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Curlie Carson 
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* 




As Ciirlie rose from the grass to stare after it, a low excla- 
mation escaped his lips — Chapter VI. 



The Radio-Phone Boys Stories 

Curlie Carson 
Listens In 

By 

JAMES CRAIG 



The Reilly & Lee Co. 
Chicago 



Printed in the United States of America 



Copyright, 1922 
b y 

The Reilly & Lee Co. 


All Rights Reserved 


Ourlie Carson Listens In 


DEC 15 *22 

©C1AG02420 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

I A Strange Message............. 9 

II Something Big 20 

III A Whisper in the Night 34 

IV A Game for Two 46 

V In the Dark 55 

VI A Real Discovery 64 

VII Curlie Receives a Shock 75 

VIII Curlie Meets a Millionaire. ... 84 

IX A Mysterious Map 95 

X The First Lap of a Long Jour- 
ney 107 

XI "‘Many Barbarians and Much 

Gold^’ 117 

XII Out to Sea in a Cockleshell. . .126 

XIII A Ghost Walks. 134 

XIV The Coming Storm 141 

XV S. O. S 151 

XVI A Confession 160 

XVII A Blinding Flash of Light 170 

XVIII The Stormy Petrel Gets an 

Answer 177 

XIX The Map's Secret 185 

XX A Sea Above a Sea 194 

XXI The Boats Are Gone 203 

XXII The Wreck of the Kittlewake.211 

XXIII The Miracle 219 

XXIV The Story of the Map 227 

XXV Off on Anotfier Wild Chase. . .234 




Curlie Carson Listens In 


CHAPTER I 
A STRANGE MESSAGE 

Behind locked and barred doors, surrounded 
by numberless mysterious-looking instruments, 
sat Curlie Carson. To the right of him was a 
narrow window. Through that window, a dizzy 
depth below, lay the city. Its square, flat roofs 
formed a mammoth checker-board. Between 
the squares criss-crossed the narrow black 
streets. Like a white chalk-line, drawn by a 
careless child, the river wound its crooked way 
across this checker-board. 

To the left of him was a second narrow 
window. Through this he caught the dark 
gleam of the broad waters of Lake Michigan. 
Here and there across the surface twinkled the 


9 


10 Curlie Carson Listens In 

lamps of a vessel, or flashed the warning beacon 
of a lighthouse. 

A boy in his late teens was Curlie. Slender, 
dark, with coal-black eyes, with curls of the 
same hue clinging tightly to his well-shaped 
head, he had the strong profile and the smooth 
tapering fingers that might belong to an artist, 
a pickpocket or a detective. 

An artist Curlie was, an artist in his line — 
radio. Although still a boy, he was already an 
operator of the ‘‘ commercial, extra first-class 
type. So far as license and title were concerned, 
he could go no higher. A pickpocket he was 
not, but a detective he might be thought to be; 
a strange type of detective, however, a detective 
of the air; the kind that sits in a small room 
hundreds of feet in air and listens; listens to 
the schemes, the plots, the counterplots of men 
an*d to the wild babble df fools. His task was 
that of aiding in the capture of knaves and the 
silencing of foolish folks who used the newly- 
discovered radiophone as their mouthpiece. 

Foolish people,’’ Major Whittaker, Curlie’s 


11 


A Strange Message 

superior, who had called him to the service, had 
said, ‘‘ do quite as much damage to the radio 
service as crooks. Fools and knaves must alike 
be punished and your task will be to help catch 
them.’’ 

Wonderful ears had Curlie Carson, perhaps 
the most wonderful ears in the world. In catch- 
ing the fine shadings of diminishing sounds 
which came to him through the radio compass, 
there was not a man who could excel him. 

So Curlie sat there surrounded by wire- 
wrapped frames, coils, keys, buttons, switches, 
motors, dry-cells, storage batteries and all the 
odds and ends which made up the equipment of 
the most perfect listening-in station in the 
world. 

As he sat there with Joe Marion, his pal, by 
his side, his brow was wrinkled in thought. He 
was reviewing the events of the previous night. 
At 1:00 a. m., the witching hour when the 
crooked ones, the mean ones, come creeping 
forth like ghosts to carry on doubtful conversa- 
tions by radio, a strange thing had happened. 


12 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


A message had gone crashing out through 
space. Wave lengths 1200 meters long sped 
it on its way. There was power enough behind 
it to carry it from pole to pole, but all it had 
said was: 

A slight breeze from the west.” 

Three times the message had been repeated, 
then had come silence. There had been no 
answer though Curlie had listened long for it 
on 1200 meter wave lengths and five other 
lengths as well. 

Sudden as had come the message, fleet as 
had been its passing, it had not been too fleet for 
Curlie. He had compassed its direction; meas- 
ured its distance. On a map of the city which 
lay before him he had made a pencil cross and 
said : 

It came from there.” And he was right, 
for, strange as it may seem, an expert such as 
Curlie can sit in a hidden tower room such as 
his was and detect the exact location of a station 
whose message has set his ear drums aquiver. 

The location had puzzled him. There was not 


A Strange Message 13 

a station in the city licensed to send 1200 meter 
wave lengths. The spot he had marked was the 
location of the city’s most magnificent apart- 
ment hotel. The hotel possessed a radiophone 
set. Its antennae, hung high upon the building’s 
roof, were capable of carrying that 1200 meter 
message with all that power behind it, but the 
radio equipment of the hotel had no such power. 

Something crooked about that,” he had 
mumbled to himself. 

His first impulse had been to call the police. 
He did not act upon it. They might blunder. 
The thing might get out. This law-breaker 
might .escape. Not five people in all the world 
knew of Curlie’s detecting station. He would 
work out this problem alone. 

Now, as he sat thinking of it, he decided to 
confide this new secret to' his pal, Joe Marion. 

Yes,” he told himself, I’ll tell him about 
it at chow.” 

At this moment his mind was recalled to 
other matters. New trouble was brewing. 

‘‘A slight breeze from the west,” his mind 


14 Curlie Carson Listens In 

went over the message automatically, "'and the 
wind was due east. Don’t mean much as it 
stands, but I suspect means a lot more than it 
seems to.” 

Just above Curlie’s head there hung a re- 
ceiver. To the right and left of him were two 
loud-speakers. Before him ranged three others. 
Each one of these was tuned to a certain wave 
length, 200, 350, 500, 600, 1200 meters. Each 
was modulated down un-til sounds came to 
Curlie’s delicately tuned ear drums as little more 
than whispers. A concert was being broadcast 
on 350. The booming tones of a baritone had 
been coming in as softly and sweetly as a 
mother’s lullaby. But now Curlie’s ear detected 
interference. 

Instantly he was all alert. The receiver was 
clamped down over his ears, a half dozen 
switches were sent^ snap, snap, snap. There 
followed a dead silence. Then in a shrill boyish 
voice, together with the baritone’s renewal of 
his song, there came: 

" I want the world to know that I am a wire- 


A Strange Message 15 

less operator, op-er-a-a-tor. Hoop-la! Tra-la!” 

Curlie smiled in spite of his vexation. He 
acted quickly and with precision. His slender 
fingers guided a coil-wound frame from right 
to left. Backward and forward it glided, and 
as it moved the boyish ‘‘ Hoop-la ” rose and fell. 
Almost instantly it came to a standstill. 
‘‘There! That’s it!” he breathed. 

Then to Joe Marion, “ It’s a shame about 
those kids. They won’t learn to play the game 
square. Don’t know the rules and don’t care. 
Think we can’t catch ’em, I guess.” 

His hand went out for a telephone. 

“ Superior 2231,” he purred. 

“That you, 2231? Just a moment.” 

He touched a key here, another there. He 
twisted a knob there, then : “ That you. Mul- 
ligan?” he half whispered. “Good! There’s 
a kid on your beat got a wireless running wild. 
Yes. Broke in on the concert. Don’t be hard 
on him. No license? Yes, guess that’s right. 
Take away his sending set. Give him another 
chance? Let him listen in. What’s that? Lo- 


16 Curlie Carson Listens In 

cation? Clarendon Street, near Orton Place; 
about second door, Pd say. That’s all right. 
Thanks, yourself.” 

Dropping the receiver on its hook he tossed 
off his head-piece, snapped at five buttons, then 
settled back in his chair. 

These kids’ll be the death of me yet,” he 
grumbled. Always breaking in, not meaning 
any harm but doing harm all the same. I don’t 
feel so very sore about them though. It’s the 
fellows that go in for long wave lengths and 
high power, that break in on 500, 1200 and 1800, 
that do the real damage. Had a queer case last 
night. Looks crooked, too.” He was silent for 
a moment then he said reflectively: 

‘‘ Guess that’s about all till midnight. It’s 
after midnight that the queer birds come creep- 
ing out. I’m going to tell you about that one 
last night, over the ham sandwich, dill pickle 
and coffee. No use to try now — we’d sure get 
broken in on.” 

Joe Marion, who had been taken on as an 
understudy by Curlie, was at the present time 


A Strange Message 17 

working without pay. At times when trouble 
developed on two different wave lengths at once, 
he topk a hand and helped out. For the most 
part he merely looked, listened and learned. 

His pal he held in the greatest admiration. 
And who would not? Had he not, when this 
great big new thing, the radiophone, came leap- 
ing right into the world from nowhere, been able 
to take a hand from the very beginning and 
become at once a valuable servant of his beloved 
country? Had he not at times detected med- 
dlers who were endangering the lives of men 
upon the high seas? Had he not at one time 
received the highest of commendations from the 
great chief of this secret service of the air? 

To Joe there was something weirdly fascinat- 
ing about the whole business. Here they were, 
two boys in the tower of the highest building in 
a great city. Five people knew of their pres- 
ence. These five were high up in the radio 
secret service. No message sent out by them 
could ever be traced back to its source. They 
did not use the air. That would be dangerous. 


18 Curlie Carson Listens In 

easily traced. They did not use the telephone 
alone. That, too, would be dangerous. But 
when a radiophone had been connected to the 
telephone wire and tuned to a certain wave 
length, then they talked and not even the person 
they talked with would ever know whence came 
the message. This was a necessary precaution 
for, from this very tower, dangerous bands of 
criminals, gangs of smugglers, and all other 
types of law-breakers would ultimately be 
brought to justice. And if these but knew of 
the presence of this boy in his tower room, some 
dark night that tower would be rocked by an 
exploding bomb and the boy in his room would 
be shaken to earth like a young mud-wasp in 
his nest. 

I’ll tell you,” said Curlie, as he rose to 
answer a tap on the door, ‘‘ I believe that affair 
last night was some big thing; but what it was 
I can’t even guess.” 

He opened the door to let in Coles Masters, 
his relief, then motioning to Joe he took his cap 
and left the room. Down the winding stairs 


A Strange Message 19 

which led to the elevator several stories lower 
down they made their way in silence, at last to 
enter a cage and be silently dropped to the 
ground hundreds of feet below. 


CHAPTER II 
SOMETHING BIG 


‘‘You see/’ Curlie began as he crossed his 
slim legs beside a small table in an all-night 
lunch room, buried somewhere in the deep re- 
cesses of this same skyscraper, “ that fellow 
sent the message about the easterly breeze that 
blew west and I located the station at that hotel. 
This morning I went over to see how the place 
looked. It’s a wonderful hotel, that one; palm 
garden in the middle of it, marble columns, 
fountain, painted sheet iron ceiling that’d make 
you dizzy to look at, and the finest dressed 
people you ever saw walking around every- 
where. 

“ Well, I found my way to the sending room 
of the radiophone and right away the operator 
wanted to throw me out; said I was a fresh kid 


20 


21 


Something Big 

and all that. But when I showed him my 
papers, he calmed down a lot and showed me 
everything he had. 

I saw right away it wasn’t his equipment 
that had sent that message — that’d be like 
sending a Big Bertha bomb into Paris with a 
twenty-two caliber rifle. He just naturally 
didn’t have the power, that’s all. So I didn’t 
tell him anything about it; just walked out and 
went around back to where I could see the way 
his wires ran from the sending room to the 
antenna. 

I hadn’t any more than got there and had 
one look-up when along strolls a man who wants 
to know what I’m looking at. I saw right away 
that he wasn’t a hotel employee for he didn’t 
wear either a bandmaster’s uniform nor a cut- 
away coat, so I just smiled and said: 

‘‘ Got a girl friend up there on the sixteenth 
floor. She’s leaving this morning and arranged 
to drop her trunk down to me so’s not to have 
to tip the porter. 

Well, sir, I hadn’t more than said that than 


22 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


a girl did pop her head out of a sixteenth floor 
window and stare straight down at me. 

‘‘ The fellow actually dodged. Guess he 
thought the trunk was due any minute. 

‘‘ Funny part of it was the girl actually 
seemed interested in me, just as if she had met 
me somewhere before. Of course she was too 
high up for me to tell what she was like, but 
it made me mighty curious. I counted the 
windows to right and left so I could find that 
room if I wanted to. The window was only the 
third to the right from where the lead wire to 
the antenna went up. 

‘‘Well, then, that fellow — ” 

“Mr. Carson?” a voice interrupted Curlie. 
“Anyone here by the name of Carson?” It 
came from the desk-clerk of the eating place. 

“ That’s me,” exclaimed Curlie, jumping up. 

“ Telephone.” 

“ All right. Be back in a minute, Joe.” 
Curlie was away to answer the call. 

“’Lo. That you, Curlie?” came through the 
receiver. “ This is Coles Masters. Got a bad 


Something Big 23 

case — extra bad. Can't understand it. Fel- 
low's sending 600 meter waves, with enough 
power to cross the Atlantic." 

“ Six hundred ! " exclaimed Curlie in a tense 
whisper. “ Why, that's what they use for S. O. 
S. at sea! It's criminal. Endangers every ship 
in distress. Five years in prison for it. Get 
him, can't you?" 

Can't. That's the trouble. Every time I 
think I've got him spotted he seems to move." 

‘‘To move!" 

“ Yes, sir." 

“ That's queer ! I'll be up right away." 

“ Come on," exclaimed Curlie, grabbing his 
hat and dragging Joe to his feet. “ It's a big 
one. Moves, he says. Sends 600 ; big power. 
Bet it's that same hotel fellow. Gee whiz ! Sup- 
posing it turned out to be that sixteenth story 
girl and she caught me spying on her. I tell 
you it's something big! " 

Impatient at the slowness of the up-shooting 
elevator, Curlie at last leaped out before the 
iron door at the top was half open, then two 


24 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


steps at a time sprang up a flight of stairs. 
Out of breath, he arrived at the final landing, 
sprang through the door to the secret tower 
room, then seizing his headpiece, sank into a 
chair. 

By a single move of the hand, Coles Masters 
indicated the radio-compass he had been listen- 
ing in on. 

‘‘That’s where he was, last time he spoke,” 
he grumbled, “ but no telling where he’ll be 
next. He’s been dodging all over that stretch 
of country.” 

Curlie’s fingers moved rapidly. He adjusted 
the coil of a radio-compass here, another there 
and still another here. He twisted the knob of 
each to the 600 mark, then, twisting the tuning 
knobs, lined them all up to receive on the same 
wave length. The winding of each was set at 
a slightly different angle from any other. 

“ That about covers him,” he mumbled. “ Get 
the distance ? ” 

“ Near as I could make out,” said Coles 
Masters, “ it was from ten to fifteen miles. He 


Something Big 25 

moves toward us, then away at times, just as he 
does to right and left/' 

‘‘ Hm," sighed Curlie, resting his chin on his 
hands. ‘‘ That's a new dodge, this moving busi- 
ness. Complicates things, that does." 

For a time he sat in a brown study. At last 
he spoke again, this time quite as much to him- 
self as to the other: 

“ Folks don't move unless they have a way to 
move. That fellow has some means of locomo- 
tion. Anyway," he sighed, “ it's not our friend 
of the big hotel unless — unless he or she or 
whoever it is has taken to locomotion, and that's 
not likely. Not the same side of the city. Out 
near the forest preserve." 

‘‘ Yes, or a little beyond," said Coles. 

‘‘ What do you think," asked Curlie suddenly, 
‘"has he got an automobile or an airplane?" 

“ Can't tell," said Coles thoughtfully. “ You 
can't really judge distances in air accurately. 
There are powerful equipments which might be 
mounted on either automobiles or airplanes." 

“ The thing that puzzled me, though, was his 


26 Curlie Carson Listens In 

line of chatter. All about some ^ map, old 
French,’ and a lot of stuff like that. I — ” 

Suddenly he broke off. A grinding sound had 
come from one of the loud speakers. There fol- 
lowed in a clear, strong voice : 

‘‘ Map O. K. Old French is amazing. Good 
for a million.” 

Curlie’s fingers were busy once more as a 
tense look drew his forehead into a scowl. 

About fifteen miles,” he whispered. 

Then the voice resumed: 

‘‘Time up the bird. When?” 

A tense silence ensued. Then, faint, as if 
from far away, yet very distinctly there came 
the single word: 

“Wednesday.” This was followed by three 
letters distinctly pronounced: “L. C. W.” 

A second later came the strong voice in 
answer: “A. C. S.” 

“ That,” said Curlie as he settled back in his 
chair, “ in my estimation ends the night’s enter- 
tainment. But the nerve of the fellow ! ” he ex- 
ploded. “ Sending that kind of rot on six 


27 


Something Big 

hundred. Why, at this very moment some dis- 
abled ship might be struggling in a storm on 
the Great Lakes or even on the Atlantic, and 
this jumble of words would muddle up their 
message so its meaning would be lost and the 
ship with it. The worst I could wish for such 
a fellow is that he be dropped into the sea with 
some means of keeping afloat but with neither 
food nor drink and a ship nowhere in sight.’’ 

If Curlie had known how exactly this wish 
was to be granted in the days that were to come, 
he might have experienced some strange sensa- 
tions. 

He straightened up and placed a dot on the 
map before him. 

‘‘ That’s where he was. I’ll motor out in the 
morning and have a look at things. May dis- 
cover some clew.” 

Curlie was a bright American boy of the 
very best type. Like most American boys who 
do not have riches thrust upon them, when he 
wanted a thing he made it or made a way to 
get it. Three years previous he had wanted an 


28 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


automobile — wanted it awfully. And his total 
capital had been $49.63. He had been wanting 
that car for some time when an express train 
hit a powerful roadster on a crossing near his 
home. 

Having flocked in with the throng to view the 
twisted remains of the car, he had been struck 
with an idea. This idea he had put into action. 
The railroad had settled with the owner for the 
car. They had the wreck of it on their hands. 
Curlie bought it for twenty-five dollars. 

To his great delight he had found the power- 
ful motor practically uninjured. The driving 
gear too, with the exception of one cog wheel, 
was in workable order. The remainder of the 
car he sold to a junk dealer for five dollars. It 
was twisted and broken beyond redemption. 

He had next searched about for a discarded 
chassis on which to mount his gears and motor. 
This search rewarded, he had proceeded to 
assemble his car. And one fine day he sailed 
out upon the street with the Humming Bird,” 
as he had named her. 


29 


Something Big 

Better call her ' Gravel Car/ ” Joe had said 
when he saw that she had no body at all and 
that he must ride with his feet thrust straight 
out before him in a homemade seat bolted to a 
buckboard-like platform. 

But when, on a level stretch of road, Curlie 
had let her out,’’ Joe had at once acquired an 
immense respect for the Humming Bird. 

For,” he said later, she can hum and she can 
go like a streak of light, and that’s about all any 
humming bird can do.” 

No further messages of importance having 
drifted in to him from the outer air, Curlie, an 
hour before dinner, made his way down to the 
street and, having warmed up the Humming 
Bird’s motor, muttered as he sprang into the 
seat : I’ll just run out there and see what I 

if 

see. 

A half hour later, just as the first gray streak 
of dawn was appearing, he curved off onto a 
gravel road. Here he threw his car over to one 
side and, switching on a flashlight, steered with 


30 Curlie Carson Listens In 

one hand while he bent over the side to examine 
the left-hand track. 

There had been a light rain at ten that night. 
Since that time a heavy car with diamond-tread 
tires had passed along the road, leaving its 
tracks in certain soft, sandy spots. 

Maybe that's him," Curlie murmured. 

A little farther on, stopping his machine, he 
got out and walked along the road. Examining 
the surface closely, he walked on for five rods, 
then wheeled about and made his way back to 
the car. 

‘‘ He was over this road three times last 
night. That looks like a warm scent. Can't 
tell, though. My friend might not have been in 
a car at all; might have been in a plane. 

We'll have a look at the very spot." He 
twirled the wheel and was away. 

A half mile farther down the road, he paused 
to look at a map. “ Not quite here," he mur- 
mured. “ About a quarter mile farther." 

The car crept over another quarter of a mile. 
When he again came to a halt he found himself 


31 


Something Big 

on a stretch of paved road. ‘‘ This is the spot 
from which the last message was sent. Tough 
luck ! ’’ he muttered. Can’t tell a thing here.” 

Glancing to his right, he sat up with a start. 
He had suddenly become aware of the fact that 
he was just before the gate of the estate of J. 
Anson Ardmore, reputed to be the richest man 
of the city. 

“ Huh ! ” Curlie grunted. Car must have 
stood about here when that last message was 
sent. Maybe it went up that lane. Maybe it 
didn’t, too. J. Anson’s got a son, about my age 
I guess. Vincent they call him. He might be 
up to something. There’s a girl, too, sixteen or 
so. Can’t tell what these rich folks will do.” 

He stepped down the rich man’s private drive, 
but here the surface of crushed stone was so 
perfectly kept that no telltale mark was to be 
seen. 

He did not venture far, as he had no relish 
for being caught trespassing on such an estate 
without some good explanation for his conduct. 
Just at that moment he had no desire to explain. 


32 Curlie Carson Listens In 

As he turned to go back, he caught the thud- 
thud of hoof beats along the private drive. 

Fortunately the abundant shrubbery hid him 
from view. Hardly had he reached the machine 
and assumed the attitude of one hunting trouble 
in his engine when a girl rounded a corner at 
full gallop. 

Dressed in full riding costume and mounted 
on a blooded horse, she swung along as graceful 
as a lark. As she came into the public highway 
she flashed Curlie a look and a smile. Then she 
was gone. 

Curlie liked the smile even if it did come from 
one of the '' four hundred.’’ 

‘‘ Gee! Old Humming Bird,” he exclaimed as 
he patted his car, did she mean that smile for 
you or for me? So there might be a girl in the 
case, same as there seems to be in that one over 
at the hotel? Girl in most every case. What 
if she sent those messages and I found her out? 
That would sure be tough. 

But business is business I ” He set his 
mouth grimly. '' You can’t fool with old Uncle 


Something Big 33 

Sam, not when you’re endangering the lives of 
some of his bravest sons at sea.” 

He threw in the clutch and drove slowly 
along the road. Twice he paused to examine 
the tracks made the night before. Each time he 
discovered marks of the diamond tread. 

‘‘ That radiophone was mounted on a car,” he 
decided ; I’ll stake my life on that. Now if he 
keeps it up, how am I to catch him? ” 


CHAPTER III 

A WHISPER IN THE NIGHT 

The next night found Curlie in the secret 
tower room alone. Joe Marion was away help- 
ing to run down a case of malicious inter- 
ference.” 

It was curious business, this work of the 
radio secret service. Though he had been at it 
for months, Curlie had never quite got used 
to it. A detective he was in the truest sense of 
the word, yet how different from the kind one 
reads about in books. 

He laughed as he thought of it now. Then 
as his tapering fingers adjusted a screw, his 
brow became suddenly wrinkled in thought. He 
was troubled by the two cases which had lately 
developed: the one at the hotel and that other, 
the station that moved. How was he to locate 
that powerful secret station in the hotel? How 

34 


35 


A Whisper in the Night 

was he to discover the owner of that mysterious 
moving radio? He could not answer these 
questions. And yet somehow they must be 
answered. He knew that. 

The operator in the hotel was sending on 1200 
meter wave lengths. State messages were con- 
stantly being sent across the Atlantic on 1200; 
messages of the greatest importance. There was 
a conference of nations at that moment going 
on in Europe. America’s representative must 
be kept in constant touch with the government 
officials at Washington. If this person at the 
hotel persisted in sending messages on 1200 
meter wave lengths an important message might 
at any moment be blurred or lost. 

Not less important was the breaking in of 
this moving operator on 600. This was the 
.wave length used by ships and by harbor sta- 
tions. Great steamships sometimes waited for 
hours to get a message ashore on 600. If this 
person were to be allowed to break in upon them 
they might wait hours longer. Thousands of 
dollars would be lost. And then, as we have 


36 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


said before, the message of some ship in dis- 
tress might be lost because of this person’s 
interference. 

‘‘ When, oh, when,” sighed Curlie, “ will 
people become used to this new thing, the radio- 
phone? When will they learn that it is a great, 
new servant of mankind and not a toy? When 
will they take time to instruct themselves re- 
garding the rights of others? When will they 
develop a conscience which will compel them to 
consider those rights ? ” 

The answer which came to his mind was. 
Perhaps never. But little by little they will 
learn some things. It is my duty not alone to 
detect but to teach.” 

He shifted uneasily in his chair, then held his 
ear close to the loud speaker tuned to 200. A 
message came floating in to him across the air, 
a mysterious whispered message. 

‘‘Hello, Curlie,” it said. “You don’t know 
me, but you have seen me — ” 

Automatically Curlie’s fingers moved the 
radio-compass backward and forward while his 


37 


A Whisper in the Night 

mind gauged the distance. His right hand 
scrawled some figures on a pad, and all the time 
his ears were strained to catch the whisper. 

I have seen you,” it went on, '' and I like 
your looks. That’s why Fm talking now.” 

For a second the whisper ceased. There was 
something awe-inspiring about that whisper. As 
he sat in his secret chamber away up there 
against the sky, Curlie felt as if some spirit- 
being was floating about out there in the sky on 
a fleecy cloud and pausing now and then to 
whisper to him. 

I saw you,” the whisper repeated. You 
are in very grave danger. He is a bold and 
treacherous man. It’s big, Curlie, big!'' The 
whisper rose shrilly. But you must be careful. 
You must not let him know the place where you 
listen in. I don’t know where it is. But I do 
know you listen in. Be careful — careful — 
careful, c-a-r-e-f-u-1-” The whisper trailed off 
into space, to be lost in thin air. 

Wiping the beads of perspiration from his 
face, Curlie sat up. Well, now,” he whispered 


38 Curlie Carson Listens In 

softly to himself, what do you know about 
that? 

One thing I do know,’’ he told himself. 'Td 
swear it was a girl’s whisper, though how you 
can tell a girl’s whisper is more than I know. 
Question is: Which one is it — hotel station or 
the one that moves ? ” 

For a moment his brow wrinkled in thought. 
Then with an exclamation of disgust he ex- 
claimed : 

“ That’s easy ! I’ve got their location ! ” 

He figured for a few seconds, then put a pen- 
cil point on a certain spot on his map. 

There ! ” he muttered. It’s the hotel, the 
exact spot.” 

Suddenly he started. There came the rattle 
of a key in the door. 

Oh ! ” he exclaimed as Coles Masters shoved 
the door open, it’s you. I’m glad you’re here. 
Got something I want to look into. Want to 
bad. Mind if I take an extra hour? ” 

Nope.” 

‘‘All right. See you later.” With a bound 


A Whisper in the Night 39 

he was out of the door and down the stairs. 

That boy/’ muttered Coles Masters, with a 
grin, will either die young or become famous. 
Only Providence knows which it will be.” 

Cur lie did not leave the elevator at the first 
floor. Dropping down to the sub-basement, he 
wound his way in and out through a labyrinth 
of dimly lighted halls, at last to climb a stair to 
the first basement. Then, having passed into 
his accustomed eating place, he paused long 
enough to purchase a Swiss cheese sandwich, 
after which, with cap pulled well down over his 
eyes, he made his way up a second flight of 
stairs into the outer air. 

He shivered as he emerged into the open 
street. Whether this chill came from the damp 
cool of the night or from nervous excitement, he 
could not tell. The memory of the whispered 
warning bore heavily upon his mind. 

Turning his face resolutely in the direction of 
the hotel, he walked three blocks, then hailed a 
passing taxi. When the taxi dropped him, a 
few minutes later, he was still four blocks from 


40 Curlie Carson Listens In 

the point of his destination. Covering this dis- 
tance with rapid strides, he came to the rear of 
the hotel. There, dodging past a line of waiting 
taxis, he came at length to a dark corner where 
a stone bench made ah angle with the wall of 
a building directly behind the hotel. 

Crouching in this corner, he glanced rapidly 
from right to left to learn whether or not his 
arrival had been detected. Satisfied that for 
the moment he was safe, he cast a glance up- 
ward to where the aerials of the radiophone 
glistened in the moonlight. From that point he 
allowed his gaze to drop steadily downward 
until it reached the windows of the sixteenth 
floor. There it remained fixed for a full 
moment. 

There came from between his teeth a sudden 
intake of breath. 

Had he seen some movement at the window 
to the right of the wires that led to the aerials? 
He must see, no matter how great the risk. 

Drawing a small pair of binoculars from his 
pocket, he fixed them on the spot. He then 


A Whisper in the Night 41 

turned a screw at the side of the binocular and 
suddenly there appeared upon the wall of the 
building a round spot of brilliant light. The 
size of a plate, this mysterious spot moved 
rapidly backward and forward until it at last 
rested upon the wires hy the window. 

‘‘ Ah ! ” came in an involuntary whisper from 
the boy’s lips. 

A hand, the slender, graceful hand of a girl 
had been clearly outlined against the wall. 
Quickly as it had been withdrawn, Curlie had 
seen that between the thumb and finger of that 
hand was the end of a wire. 

‘‘ Been tapping the aerial. A girl ! ” he mut- 
tered incredulously. And it was she who 
whispered to me out of the night.” 

He had been crouching low. Now he rose, 
stretched himself, pocketed his instrument and 
was about to make his way out of the yard 
when, with the suddenness of a tiger, a body 
launched itself upon his back. 

So unexpected was the assault that the boy’s 
body closed up like a jack knife. He fell, face 


42 Curlie Carson Listens In 

down, completely doubled up, with his face 
between his knees. 

Now I got yuh ! ” was snarled into his ear. 
The weight on his back was crushing. He could 
scarcely breathe. 

‘‘ You — you have,-’ he managed to groan. 

You’ll come along,” said the voice. 

Curlie did not speak nor stir. The weight was 
partly lifted from his back. The man had 
dropped one foot to the ground. 

Now Curlie, had he been properly exercised 
for it when he was a child, might have turned 
out a fair contortionist. He was exceedingly 
slim and limber and had learned many of the 
tricks of the contortionist. He had done this 
merely to amuse his friends. Now the tricks 
stood him in good stead. 

He did not attempt to rise by straightening 
up, as most persons would have done. When 
the pressure grew less, he lay still doubled up, 
face down upon the ground. 

This gave him two advantages. It led his 
assailiant to believe him injured in some way 


A Whisper in the Night 43 

and at the same time left him in position for 
the next move. 

When the pressure had been sufficiently re- 
moved for his purpose, he took a quick, strong 
breath, then with a rush which set every muscle 
in action, he thrust his head between his knees, 
gripped his own ankles and did a double turn 
over which resembled nothing so much as a 
boulder rolling down hill. 

The next instant, finding himself free, he 
sprang to his feet, dodged behind a taxi, shot 
past three moving cars, leaped to the pavement, 
skirted a wall, then dodged into an alley. 

Down this alley there was a doorway. Into 
the shadow of this doorway he threw himself. 
There was a hole in the wooden door. A hook 
could be reached through the hole. The hook 
quickly lifted, he found himself inside a nar- 
row court at the back of a large apartment 
building. There was a driveway from this 
court into the street beyond. 

Assuming a natural pace, he made his way 
down this driveway and out into the street 


44 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


where, with a low whistled tune, he made his 
way back toward the heart of the city. Five 
blocks farther down he paused to adjust his 
clothing. 

‘‘Wow! but that was a close one,” he mut- 
tered. Don’t know who my heavy friend 
was but he sure wanted to detain me for some 
reason or other. But say!” he mused; ‘‘how 
about that girl? Hope I didn’t get her in bad 
by flashing that light on her hand. 

“ But then,” he thought more soberly, “ per- 
haps she is the principal bad one. Perhaps she 
is whispering on 200 just to mislead me. Who 
knows? You’ve got to be wise as a serpent 
when you play this game, that’s what you’ve 
got to be. There’s just two kinds of radio 
detectives, the quick and the dead.” He 
chuckled dryly. 

“ Well, I guess Coles Masters will think 
I’m one of the dead ones if I don’t rush on.” 

Hurrying to the next street, he boarded a 
car to make his way back to the secret lower 


room. 


45 


A Whisper in the Night 

During his absence things had been happen- 
ing in the mysterious radio world that hangs like 
a filmy ghost-land above the sleeping world. 


CHAPTER IV 
A GAME FOR TWO 

As Curlie slipped noiselessly through the 
door into the secret tower room, he was seized 
by the arm and dragged into his chair. 

‘"Man! where have you been?’' It was 
Coles Masters. He spoke in an excited whisper. 

Listen to that! It’s the second message. 
He’ll repeat it again. They always do.” 

As Curlie listened, his face grew grave with 
concern. The message came from the head 
station of the radiophone secret service bureau. 
That station was located in New York. The 
message was a reprimand. Kindly, friendly 
but firmly, it told Curlie that for two nights 
now someone in his area had been breaking in 
on 600. Coast-to-ship messages had been dis- 
turbed. Once an S. O. S. from a disabled 
fishing schooner had barely escaped being lost. 

46 


A Game for Two 47 

Something must be done about it at once! By 
Curlie! In Chicago! 

With parted lips and bated breath Curlie lis- 
tened to the message as it came to him in code. 
Then, with trembling fingers, he adjusted a 
lever, touched a button, turned a screw and 
dictated to a station in another part of the city 
his answering O. K. to the message. 

Of course,’’ he said to Coles, as he lifted 
the receiver from his head, '^that means that 
this fellow that races all over the map has been 
at it again to-night.” 

‘^About an hour ago,” said Coles, wrinkling 
his brow. 

What did you do about it? ” 

‘‘What was there to do? I tried to locate 
him. He danced about, first here, then there. 
I marked his locations. They were never the 
same. See,” he pointed to the map. “I num- 
bered them. He spoke from five different 
points.” 

“ What did he say? ” 

“ It’s all written down there,” Coles motioned 


48 Curlie Carson Listens In 

to a pad. Can’t make head nor tail to it. 
Something about a map, an airplane, a boat and 
a lot of gold.” 

‘^What kind of voice?” 

Sounded young. Some boy in late teens, 
I’d say. Though it might have been a girl. 
She might have changed her voice to disguise 
it. You can’t tell. Had two cases like that in 
the last three weeks. You never can tell about 
voices.” 

No,” said Curlie, thoughtfully, ‘‘you never 
can tell. That’s about the only thing you can 
be sure of in this strange old world. You can 
always be sure that you never can tell. Thing 
that looks like one thing always^ turns out to 
be something else. 

“ Point is,” he continued after a moment’s 
deep thought, “ somebody’s getting past our 
guard. Slamming us right in the nose and 
we’re not doing a thing about it. Don’t look 
like we could. I’ve got a theory but you can’t 
go searching the estate of the richest man in 
your city just on theory; you’ve got to have 


A Game for Two 49 

facts to back you up, and mighty definite facts, 
too/’ 

“ Yes, that’s right,” agreed Coles. '' But 
what do you make out of all that babble about 
airplane, map, ship and much gold? Do you 
suppose it’s some smuggling scheme, some plan 
to get a lot of Russian or Austrian jewels into 
the country without paying duty or something 
like that?” 

I don’t make anything out of that,” said 
Curlie rather sharply, '' and for the time, I 
don’t jolly much care. The thing I’m interested 
in is the fact that we’re being beaten; that the 
air about us is being torn to shreds every night 
by some careless or criminal person; that we’re 
getting a black eye and a reprimand from the 
department ; that sea traffic is being interrupted ; 
that liv^s are being imperiled and we can’t 
seem to do anything about it. That’s what’s 
turning my liver dark black ! ” He pounded 
the desk before him until instruments rattled 
and wires sang. 

But how you are going to catch a fellow 


50 Curlie Carson Listens In 

when he goes tearing all over the map/’ said 
Curlie, more calmly, ‘‘is exactly what I don’t 
know. You go down and get a bite of chow. 
No, go on home and go to bed. I’ll take the rest 
of the shift. I want to think. I think best when 
I’m alone; when the wires sing me a song; 
when the air whispers to me out of the night; 
when the ghosts of dead radio-men, ghosts of 
operators who joked with death when the sea 
was reaching up mighty arms to drag them 
down, come back to talk to me. That’s when 
I think best. These whispering ghosts tell me 
things. When I sit here all asleep but my 
ears, things seem to come to me.” 

“ Bah ! ” said Coles Masters, shivering, “ you 
give me the creeps.” 

Drawing on his coat, he slipped out of the 
door, leaving Curlie slumped down in his chair 
already all asleep but his wonderful ears. 

For a full hour he sat lumped up there. 
Seeming scarcely to breathe, stirring now and 
then as in sleep, he continued to listen and 
to dream. 


A Game for Two 51 

Then suddenly he sat up with a start to 
exclaim out loud: 

‘‘Yes! That’s it. Catch a thief with a 
thief. Catch a radiophone with a radiophone. 
A radiophone on wheels? That’s a game two 
can play at. I’ll do it! To-morrow night.” 

Snapping up a telephone receiver he mur- 
mured : 

“ Central 662.” 

A moment later he tuned an instrument and 
threw on a switch; “ Weigh tman there?” he 
inquired. “Asleep? Wake him up. This is 
Curlie Carson. Yes, it’s important. No, I’ll 
tell you. Don’t bother to wake him now — 
have him over at the Coffee Shop at five bells. 
The Coffee Shop. He’ll know. Don’t fail! 
It’s important ! ” 

He snapped down the receiver. Weightman 
was the radio mechanic assigned to his station. 
He would have unusual and important work to 
do that day. 

He slumped down again in his chair but 
did not remain in that position many minutes. 


52 Curlie Carson Listens In 

From one of the loud speakers came a persistent 
whisper : 

‘"Hello. Hello, Curlie, you there?’’ the 
girlish voice purred, the one that had whispered 
to him before. “ I saw you to-night. That was 
dangerous. Why did you do it? Nearly got 
me in bad. Not quite. He almost got you.” 

The whisper ceased. Adjusting the campus 
coil Curlie sat at strained attention. 

“ I wish I knew you were listening,” came 
again. “ It’s hard to be whispering into the 
night and not knowing you’re being heard.” 

Curlie’s fingers moved nervously over a tuner 
knob. He was sorely tempted to tune in and 
flash an answering “ O. K.,” if nothing more. 

But, no, he drew his hands resolutely back. 
It was not wise. There was danger in it. This 
might be a trap. They might locate his secret 
tower room by that single O. K. Then dis- 
aster would follow. 

The whisper came again: “You’re clever, 
Curlie, awfully clever. The way you doubled 
over and turned yourself wrong side out was 


53 


A Game for Two 

great! But please do be careful. It’s big, 
Curlie, big!” again the whisper rose almost to 
speaking tone. ''And he is a terribly determined 
man; wouldn’t stop at anything.” 

The whisper ceased. 

For a moment Curlie sat there lost in re- 
flection, then he muttered savagely : " Oh ! get 
off the air, you little whispering mystery, you’re 
spoiling my technique. Your very terrible 
friend didn’t send any message to-night and the 
one he sent before hasn’t got us into any trou- 
ble. I’ve got to forget you and go after this 
moving fellow who sends 600.” 

As if in answer to his challenge the loud 
speaker to his right, the one tuned to 1200, 
began to rattle. Then, in the full, determined 
tones of a man accustomed to speak with au- 
thority there came: 

" Calm night.” 

Three times, over five thousand miles of 
air, this great voice bellowed its message. 

The silence which followed was ghostly. 
Cold perspiration stood out on Curlie’s brow. 


54 Curlie Carson Listens In 

It was not necessary for him to calculate the 
location from which this message was sent. 
He knew that it had come from the hotel. 
And it had. 

Next thing,” he told himself with a groan, 
‘‘the International Service will be on my back 
for letting that lion roar. I ought to turn 
that over to the police; but I won’t, not just 
yet.” 


CHAPTER V 
IN THE DARK 

As the clock in a distant college tower struck 
the hour of eleven the following night, a flat 
looking car with a powerful engine stole out 
into the road that ran by the Forest Preserve. 
It was the Humming Bird. Joe Marion was 
at the wheel. Curlie sat beside him. 

On the back of the car was a miscellaneous 
pile of instruments all securely clamped down. 
Above there hung suspended between two 
vertical bars a square frame from which there 
gleamed the copper wires of a coil. 

To catch a radiophone on wheels, Curlie had 
reasoned, one must mount his radio compass on 
wheels and pursue the offender. How well it 
would work, he could not even guess, but any- 
thing was better than sitting there helpless in 
55 


56 Curlie Carson Listens In 

the secret tower room listening to this person 
tearing up the air in a manner both unwise and 
unlawful. 

So here they were, prepared to make the 
test. 

'‘Of course,’^ Curlie grumbled, "now weVe 
got the trap set, the ghost may decide not to 
walk on this particular night. That’ll be part 
of our rotten luck.” 

" Most ghosts, I’m told,” chuckled Joe, 
" prefer to walk when there’s someone about, 
for what’s the good of a ghost-walk when 
there’s no one to see. So our radio ghost may 
show up after all.” 

Curlie lapsed into silence. He was review- 
ing the events which led up to this thrilling 
moment. When the message on 600 came bang- 
ing to his ears with great power on that first 
night, he had carefully platted the various loca- 
tions of the person who had sent the messages. 
There had been some criss-crosses shown but, in 
the main, a line drawn through these points 
had formed an oblong which on the actual 


In the Bark 


57 


surface of the ground must have been some 
ten miles in length by six in width. One in- 
teresting point was that the first and last 
messages of that night had been sent at points 
not a quarter of a mile apart. 

Which goes to show/' he reasoned, ‘‘ that 
this fellow started from a certain point and 
made his way back to that point, just as a 
rabbit will do when chased by a hound. And 
those two points, the start and the finish, are 
close to the driveway into the million dollar 
estate. But of course that doesn't prove that 
the car came from there. Any person could 
drive to that point, begin operations, race over 
the square and return to the point." 

Coles Masters had platted the points for the 
second night. A line drawn through these 
points made a figure quite irregular in form, 
which was, however, composed of rectangles. 

Which proves," he told himself, “ that our 
friend, the lawless radio fan, drives an auto 
and not an airplane. An auto follows roads, 
which for the most part in this section form 


58 Curlie Carson Listens In 

squares. He passed along two or three sides of 
these squares and this makes up the figure. 

‘‘There’s only one thing in common in the 
two night journeys,” he continued. “ The 
start and finish are at almost exactly the same 
spot, near the entrance of that great estate.” 

He tried not to allow these facts to cause 
him to hold undue suspicion against the in- 
habitants of that mansion, but in this he ex- 
perienced some difficulty. 

“ The thing for us to do,” he had said to 
Joe, “ is to run out there and back our car into 
an unfrequented, wooded road running into the 
forest preserve. We don’t dare go too near the 
original starting place. If we’re seen with this 
load of junk it will give us dead away. Thing 
is to be ready to move quickly when he lets 
loose with his message. Ought not to be more 
than a mile away, I’d say. He’s got a powerful 
car. You can tell that by the fact that he sent 
a message at this corner, then raced over here, 
four miles distant, and got another message off 
in eleven minutes, which is quick action.” 


In the Dark 


59 


They backed into the grass-grown road of 
the Forest Preserve, then settled down in their 
places to wait. 

The night was dark. There was no moon. 
Clouds were scurrying overhead. Only the 
rustle of leaves and the startled tweet-tweet of 
some bird surprised in his sleep disturbed the 
utter silence of the woods. 

“ Ghostly,’' whispered Joe, then he lapsed 
into silence. 

With his slim legs stretched out before him, 
Curlie was soon asleep, all but his ears. Joe 
insisted that those ears never slept. 

A half hour, an hour, an hour and a half 
dragged by. Joe had gone quite to sleep when 
Curlie suddenly dug him in the ribs and uttered 
the shrilly whispered warning: 

Hist ! There she blows ! ” 

A flashlight was snapped on. Curlie’s fingers 
flew from instrument to instrument. The voice 
of the mysterious operator could be heard. 
Now rising, now falling, it filled the woods 
with echoes, yet the speaker was more than 


60 Curlie Carson Listens In 

a mile away, as near as the boys could guess. 

The words spoken by him were now of no 
importance. Location was everything. 

‘‘ Same place, exclaimed Curlie, exactly the 
same ! You know where ! Drive like mad ! ’’ 

Instantly the car lurched forward. Coming 
out of the bush on two wheels, she sent a shower 
of gravel flying as she rushed madly down the 
road. 

Quick as they were, the quarry had been 
quicker. As they rounded a corner, they caught 
the red gleam of a tail-light disappearing at the 
next turn. 

Heck ! ’’ said Curlie, then, ‘‘ Let her out ! 
Show him some speed.'' 

The motor of the Humming Bird sang joy- 
ously. Fairly eating up the road, she took the 
corner with a wide swing. But when they 
looked down the long stretch of highway there 
was no red tail-light to be seen. 

'' Heck ! " said Curlie again, ‘‘ he's reached 
the next crossroad and turned the corner. Can’t 
tell which way he went. It's a hard, dry gravel 


In the Dark 


61 


roadbed — won^t tell a thing. Best we can do 
is to rattle along up there, then sit it out for 
another listen-in.” 

Disappointed but not disheartened, Curlie ad- 
justed his instruments, then sat in breathless 
expectation. 

He did not have long to wait, for again the 
voice in the loud speaker boomed out into the 
night. 

“ Huh,” he grumbled a few seconds later, 
he’s got three miles lead on us. To the right. 
Quick, give her the gas.” 

Again they were oif. For two miles and a 
half straight ahead they raced. The Humming 
Bird quivered like a leaf, instruments jingling 
in spite of their lashings. 

“ Make it all the way,” said Curlie, as Joe 
slowed up. He’s not there. Given us the slip 
again.” 

Six times this program was gone through 
with. Not once in all that time did they catch 
sight of that tail-light. 

Some car he’s got ! ” said Curlie when the 


62 Curlie Carson Listens In 

farce was ended. Bet he never even guessed 
he was being chased. But you wait; we’ll get 
him yet.” 

When they were once more in the secret tower 
room Curlie plotted the route of the mysterious 
operator. 

Only significant thing about that,” he com- 
mented, when he had finished, ‘‘ is that he starts 
and finishes within a quarter of a mile of the 
same place as on the other two nights.” 

‘‘ And that place — ” suggested Joe. 

Is near old J. Anson’s driveway.” 

Looks mighty suspicious to me,” said Joe. 

“ Does to me, too ; but, as I have said before, 
you can’t raid a man’s private castle on any such 
flimsy proof as that. You’ve got to have the 
goods. 

Tell you what,” he said after a moment’s 
silence, sometimes our natural ears and eyes 
are better than all these instruments and wires. 
I’m going out there to-morrow night alone and 
on foot.” 

Might work,” said Joe thoughtfully, “ but 


In the Dark 


63 


whatever you do, you must be careful.” 

“Careful?” said Curlie scornfully. “There 
are times when a fellow can’t afford to be care- 
ful. This thing’s getting serious.” He glanced 
over a second message from the head office of 
his bureau. It was couched in no gentle terms. 
He was told that this intruder must be caught 
and that at once if he, Curlie Carson, wished to 
hold his position as chief of the secret tower 
room station. 


CHAPTER VI 
A REAL DISCOVERY 

Darkness found Curlie again on the edge of 
the Forest Preserve. This time he was on foot 
and alone. Apparently he carried nothing. His 
right hip pocket bulged, the handle of a flash- 
light protruded from his coat pocket, that was 
all. 

He did not pause at the spot where they had 
hid their car the night before, but continued 
down the main road for a half mile farther. 
There he plunged into the forest, to continue his 
journey under cover. Eleven o’clock found him 
concealed in a clump of bushes in the woods 
that lay opposite the millionaire’s driveway. 

“ If they come to-night,” he whispered to 
himself, I’ll know whether they belong on 
that estate or not, and if they do I’ll know who 
it is. Anyway, I’ll know it’s one of J. Anson’s 

64 


65 


A Real Discovery 

folks. And we’ll see if it is a boy or the girl? ’’ 

The question interested him. He had no 
relish for getting a girl into trouble, especially 
that frank-faced, smiling girl he had seen on 
horseback. 

But the thing must stop,” he told himself 
sternly, taking a tight grip on something in his 
hip pocket. 

The night was clear. He could see objects 
quite plainly. The trees, the shrubbery, the 
stone pillars at the entrance to the driveway, 
stood out in bold relief. For a time he sat star- 
ing at them in silence. At last he closed his eyes 
and slept, as was his custom, all but his ears. 

He was startled from this stupor by a sudden 
flash of light which made its presence felt even 
through his eyelids. 

As his eyes flew open, he found himself star- 
ing at two glowing headlights. The next in- 
stant he had flattened himself in the grass. 

Wow ! Hope they didn’t see m^ ! ” he whis- 
pered. 

A low-built, powerful car had come purring 


66 Curlie Carson Listens In 

so quietly down the driveway of the estate that 
it had rounded a sudden curve before he had 
been aware of its presence. 

Now, with undiminished speed, it turned to 
the right, entered the public highway and sped 
straight on. 

As Curlie rose from the grass to stare after 
it, a low exclamation escaped his lips. Sup- 
ported by high parallel bars, which were doubt- 
less in turn supported by strong guy wires, were 
the aerials of a radiophone. The whole of this 
rose from, and rested upon, the body of the 
powerful roadster. 

“And I missed them!” he exploded, then: 

“ No, I didn’t. They’re stopping.” 

It was true. Some eighty rods down the road 
the car had slowed up. He had no means of 
telling what they were doing but felt quite war- 
ranted in supposing they were sending a mes- 
sage. 

Like a flash he was away through the brush. 
Speed and the utmost caution were necessary. 
If a limb cracked, if he fell over a hidden ditch, 


67 


A Real Discovery 

the quarry would be frightened away. He must 
see what was going on, see it with his own 
eyes. 

Fairly holding his breath, he struggled for- 
ward. Now he had covered a third of the dis- 
tance, now half, now three-quarters and now — 

His lips parted in an unuttered groan. He 
leaped out of the bush. Something flashed in 
his hand. For a second that thing was pointed 
down the road where the speedy car had sud- 
denly resumed its journey. Then his hand 
dropped to his side. 

No,” he said slowly, it won’t do. Too 
risky. Guess they haven’t seen me. If not, they 
will be back. And next time,” he shook his fist 
at the vanishing car, next time my fair lad or 
lady, you won’t escape me.” 

Turning back, he again disappeared into the 
brush. 

In the meantime things were happening in the 
air. Coles Masters, who was in charge of the 
secret tower room, had his hands full. He 
switched on this loud-speaker and lowered that 


68 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


one to a whisper. He tuned in this one and cut 
that one out. 

Whew ! he exclaimed, mopping his brow, 
“ what a night! Wish Curlie were here.” 

To start the night's entertainment a boy had 
broken in on the radio concert. Then a crank 
had come shouting right into the middje of a 
speech by a politician. A few moments later a 
message on 1200 had fairly burst his ear-drums. 
The message had been short, composed of just 
three words: 

‘‘ Dark, cloudy night.” 

Regular thunderbolt behind that ! ” he mut- 
tered as he measured the location and found it 
to come from the city's great hotel. ‘‘ Enough 
there to send it round the world. Shouldn't be 
surprised to get the echo of it in a few seconds 
myself. The nerve of the man ! ” 

In strange contrast to this was the whisper 
which followed within five minutes. It was sent 
on 200. 

Hello, Curlie. Did you get that? Terrible, 
wasn't it?'' came the whisper. ‘‘But, Curlie, I 


69 


A Reed Discovery 

don’t think you need to bother about him. He’s 
leaving in a day or two. He’s going, far, far 
away. He’s going north; out of your territory 
entirely. I know you’d love to catch him, Curlie, 
but it would be dangerous, awfully ^angerous! 
So don’t you try, for he is gbing far, far away.” 

Coles Masters’ fingers had worked rapidly 
during this whispered message. Not only had 
he measured the distance and taken the loca- 
tion, but he had written down the message 
word for word. 

‘‘ Well, I’ll be jiggered! ” he muttered. That 
was a girl, a young girl and a pretty one too, or 
I miss my guess. Anyway she has an interest- 
ing whisper. She’s at that same hotel and seems 
to know Curlie. She must have broken in on 
my 1200 friend. So he’s going north? Can’t 
go any too soon for me. Mighty queer case. 
Have to turn it over to Curlie. It’s all Greek 
to me.” 

‘‘Hello, there! What — ” 

He wheeled about to snap a button. A mes- 
sage was being shouted out on 600. 


70 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


'' That’s the chap Curlie’s after. So he hasn’t 
got him yet? Well, here’s hoping he hurries.” 
His pencil began rapidly writing the message. 

Meanwhile Curlie in his woods retreat had 
moved silently over to the other side of the 
driveway. 

Probably will come back the other way,” he 
concluded. 

He did not remain behind the fence this time 
but threw himself into the shallow depths of 
a dry ravine. He remained keenly alert. His 
eyes were constantly on the road, which lay like 
a brown ribbon a full mile straight before him. 

He was thinking of his various cases. Equal 
in interest to the one which he was now hunting 
down was that big hotel case. He was thinking 
of thje girl. Why had she whispered those mes- 
sages to him? Was she merely a tool of the 
man behind the powerful radio machine? Was 
she simply leading him on? He could not feel 
that she was. Somehow her whisper had an 
accent of genuine interest in it. 

‘^Wonder what she’s like,” he asked himself. 


A Real Discovery 71 

Then, with a smile playing about his lips, he 
tried to guess. 

‘‘ Small, very active, has dark brown hair and 
snappy black eyes.’* After a moment’s thought 
he chuckled : Probably really a heavy blonde ; 
something like two hundred pounds. You can’t 
tell anything by a voice. You — ” 

Suddenly he braced himself up on his elbows. 
His keen ears had caught a distant purring 
sound. Two yellow balls of fire were rapidly 
approaching — the headlights of a fast-moving 
automobile. 

“ He comes ! Now for it ! ” He prepared to 
spring. 

In an amazingly short time the car was all 
but upon him. Leaping to his feet, he let out 
a wild whoop and, brandishing his automatic 
threateningly, stood squarely in the middle of 
the road. 

His heart beat wildly. There could be no mis- 
take. He saw the wires and rods swaying above 
the car. 

For a second the car slowed up, then, with a 


72 Curlie Carson Listens In 

snort it leaped right at him. Nimble as he was, 
he barely escaped being run down. 

As the car flashed past him, he wheeled about 
and almost instantly his automatic barked three 
times. Simultaneous with the last shot there 
came a louder explosion. 

“Tire! Got you,” he muttered. 

Instantly the car swerved to the side of the 
road. A tire had gone flat. The car had 
skidded. 

The rods which carried the aerials caught in 
a tree top. The car, jerked back like a mad 
horse caught by a lariat, reared up on its hind 
wheels, threatened to turn turtle, then crashed 
over on its side with its engine still racing 
wildly. 

Sudden as had been the catastrophe, it had 
not been too quick for the driver. Just as the 
car crashed over, Curlie caught sight of a figure 
in long linen duster and with closely wrapped 
head, dashing up the bank, over the fence and 
into the brush. 

“ Go it,” he exclaimed, making no attempt to 


73 


A Real Discovery 

catch the fugitive, you know the country better 
than I do. Fd never catch you in that labyrinth 
of trees. Besides, I don’t need to. Your equip- 
ment is pretty well smashed up and you’ve left 
me enough evidence to make out a beautiful 
case.” 

Walking over to the machine, he reached over 
and shut off the engine. After that, in a very 
leisurely manner he collected various odds and 
ends from the radiophone equipment. Having 
stuffed these into his pockets, he wrenched the 
back number plate from the machine and tucked 
it under his arm. 

‘‘ Guess that’s enough,” he murmured. Now 
I can take my own time in springing the thing. 
He probably thinks I was a hold-up man, but 
even if he guessed the truth he couldn’t escape 
me and couldn’t get his equipment back in shape 
short of a week, so that’s that.” 

Turning, he started toward the nearest inter- 
urban line a good five miles away. 

When he had walked a mile, he stopped sud- 
denly in his track. 


74 Curlie Carson Listens In 

Say ! he exclaimed. '' Was that the son 
or the daughter? All muffled up that way I 
couldn’t tell.” 

‘‘ Ho, well,” he resumed his march, that’ll 
come out in time. Only I hope it wasn’t the 
girl. I sort of liked her looks.” 


CHAPTER VII 

CURLIE RECEIVES A SHOCK 

Having boarded an interurban car, Curlie 
slept his way into the city. Once there he hur- 
ried over to the secret tower room, where the 
news of his night’s adventure was received with 
great joy. 

So you got him ! ” exclaimed Coles Masters. 

Smashed him up right? Bully for you. That’s 
great ! ” He slapped Curlie on the back. 

Dropping into his chair, Curlie dictated a 
message by secret wire to headquarters in New 
York. The message stated in modest, concise 
terms that the nuisance on 600 in the secret 
tower region was at an end; that the station 
had been effectively broken up and that the 
offender would no doubt soon be in the hands 
of the law. 

A half hour later he received a highly com- 
75 


76 Curlie Carson Listens In 

mendatory message, congratulating him on his 
achievement and bidding him keep up the good 
work. 

After glancing over Coles’ reports for the 
evening and making mental notes from them, 
Curlie prepared to seek his bed and indulge in 
a good, long sleep, the first in several days. 

‘‘ There isn’t a bit of hurry in going after 
that rich young fellow or girl, if it is a girl,” he 
said to Coles. ‘‘ That’ll keep. We’ve got plenty 
of proof.” He jerked a thumb toward the cor- 
ner where was a box into which he had tossed 
the various small parts of a sending set and 
the number plate of the car. ‘'All we need to 
do now is to saunter out there some fine morn- 
ing and have a heart-to-heart talk with J. Anson 
himself.” 

Had Curlie but known it, there was to be a 
great deal more than that to it. There was to 
be an adventure in it for him such as he had 
never before experienced, an adventure which 
was destined to take him thousands of miles 
from the secret tower room and which was to 


Curlie Receives a Shock 77 

throw him into such dangers as would cause the 
bravest to shrink back in terror. 

Since he was blissfully ignorant of all this he 
was also blissfully happy in the consciousness of 
having achieved success in the thing he had 
undertaken. 

This/’ he laughed as he said it, is going 
to bring me face to face with one of America’s 
greatest millionaires. It’s like going before a 
king in some ways. In others I fancy it’s more 
like meeting a lion in the street. Anyway, I’ve 
always wanted to meet a king, a lion and a mil- 
lionaire and here’s where I meet one of them. 
Ever meet one?” He turned to Coles. 

""Meet which?” Coles smiled. ""King, lion 
or millionaire?” 

"" Millionaire.” 

"" No, can’t say that I have, though I doubt 
if we’d either of us recognize one if we should 
meet him on the street. Someone has said that 
humanity is everywhere much the same and I 
fancy that’s true even of very rich folks. They 
may try to bluif you with their power but if 


78 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


they find they can’t do that, I guess they’ll turn 
out to have the same dreams, the same hopes 
and fears, the same joys and sorrows as the 
rest of us.” 

“ Do you think so? ” said Curlie thoughtfully. 
‘‘ I hope that’s true. It would be a good thing 
for the world if it were true and if all the people 
in the world knew it. 

‘‘ Well, good night.” He drew on his cap. 
‘‘ See you in about sixteen hours. Guess it’ll 
take me that long to catch up my sleep. After 
that I’m going after that fellow who’s breaking 
in on 1200, that fellow over at the hotel with 
the whispering friend, or enemy, whichever she 
may turn out to be.” 

Had he but known it, it was to be many days 
before he was to go after that offender on the 
1200 meter wave lengths and then it was to be 
in ways of which he had not yet dreamed. And 
so he slept. 

When he awoke after fourteen hours of re- 
freshing sleep, it was to hear the newsies crying 
their evening papers. For some time he lay 


Curlie Receives a Shock 79 

there listening to their shrill shouts and attempt- 
ing to catch what they were saying. 

‘‘ Ex-tree ! All about — ’’ He could get that 
far, probably because he had heard it so often 
before, but no further could he go. The re- 
mainder was a jumble of meaningless sounds. 

Suddenly, as he listened, a shrill urchin 
shouted the words out directly beneath his very 
window : 

Wul — ex-tree ! All about the mur-der-ed 
millionaire’s son ! ” 

Here ! Here ! ” exclaimed Curlie, thrusting 
his head out of the window. ‘‘ What million- 
aire’s son? Give me one of those papers.” He 
tossed the boy a nickel and received a tightly 
wrapped paper. Sent through the window as 
if shot from a catapult, it landed with a bump 
on the floor. 

His hand trembled so he could scarcely unroll 
the paper. His head whirled. 

‘‘Murdered?” he said to himself. “Million- 
aire’s son murdered? Can it be Vincent Ard- 
more? Did a bullet from my automatic, glanc- 


80 Curlie Carson Listens In 

ing from the wheel, inflict a mortal wound? ’’ 

He saw himself behind prison bars in mur- 
derer’s row. 

Cold perspiration stood out on his brow as 
he read in staring headlines: 

‘7. ANSON ARDMORE’S SON BELIEVED 
MURDERED.” 

“Believed?” He caught at that single word 
as a camel in a desert snaps at a straw. So 
they were not sure. 

Hastily he read the column through, then 
dropped limply into a chair. 

“ Oh ! What a shock ! ” he breathed. 

He was vastly relieved. The article stated 
that the car belonging to the millionaire’s son 
had been found by a laborer employed on the 
estate as he came to his work very early in the 
morning. The car, which was badly smashed 
up, bore the mark of a bullet in a rear tire and 
one in the lower part of the body. It was be- 
lieved that the young man, being pursued by 
bandits and having attempted to escape, had had 


Curlie Receives a Shock 81 

his car riddled by bullets and had been thrown 
into the ditch. 

There are grave reasons for supposing/’ the 
article went on to state, ‘‘ since no trace of the 
young man has yet been found, that he has been 
either kidnapped for ransom or, having been 
killed by a stray bullet, has been buried some- 
where in the forest preserve. 

Bands of armed men are searching the 
woods and every available police officer and 
detective has been put on the case. A reward 
of $5,000 has been offered by the father for any 
information which may lead to the discovery 
of the whereabouts of his son.” 

Whew ! ” exclaimed Curlie, mopping his 
brow. ‘‘ What a rumpus ! ” 

.Suddenly he sat up straight. Doesn’t say 
one word about that wireless apparatus in the 
car. How about that? ” 

He sat with wrinkled brow for a moment. 
“ Ah ! ” he slapped his knee, I have it ! The 
laborer of course came directly to his master. 
The shrewd old millionaire, guessing that his 


82 Curlie Carson Listens In 

son had been breaking radio laws, had all of 
that equipment removed before the public was 
let in on the deal. He bribed the laborer to 
secrecy on that point and there you are.” 

Again his brow wrinkled. ‘‘ Five thousand 
dollars ! ” he whispered. That’s a lot of 
money. I could supply some valuable informa- 
tion which might entitle me to the five thousand. 
Question is, do I want to risk it? The thing 
that’s happened is about this, far as I can figure 
it out: Our young amateur radio friend, when 
his auto turned turtle, hiked off into the woods. 
For a time he stayed there. Then, when noth- 
ing happened for some time, he came sneaking 
back. When he found I’d taken his number 
plate and some parts of his radio equipment, he 
guessed right away that I was connected with 
the radio secret service. He’s hiding right now, 
unless I miss my guess, with some of his rich 
young friends. 

‘‘ I might tell all that and I might get the 
reward, but supposing something really had 
happened? Oh, boy, what a mess! 


Curlie Receives a Shock 


83 


''And yet/’ he mused, after a moment, Fve 
done nothing to be ashamed of. Fm an officer 
of the law. I did what I did because a fellow 
was resisting arrest. Ho, well, Fll just let 
things stand and simmer. Something may 
come to the top yet.’’ 


CHAPTER VIII 

CURLIE MEETS A MILLIONAIRE 

It was a tense situation for Curlie. He ‘ 
spent an uneasy night and that in spite of the 
fact that the air was particularly free from 
trouble. 

Hang it all,” he exclaimed once as, dashing 
the receiver from his head, he sprang from his 
chair to pace the floor of the secret tower room, 
'' I’d welcome something in the line of trouble. 
This eternal thinking — thinking — thinking, 
drives me wild. What to do, that’s the ques- 
tion. Suppose I’d ought to go out and tell 
Ardmore what I know. If a millionaire fa- 
ther’s like any other father, I guess he’s pretty 
well wrought up by now. But if I go, and if 
I tell him the whole truth. I’m as sure as I am 
of anything that it will get me into a mess and 
that’s the sort of thing I don’t like.” 

84 


Curlie Meets a Millionaire 


85 


Glancing down, his eye was caught by Coles' 
report of the night before. Dropping once more 
into his chair, he began going through the 
messages written there. When he came to the 
one sent out by the boy whose car he had 
wrecked, he pondered over it for a long time. 

‘ Island, airplane, map, much gold ; airplane, 
map, island, gold,’ ” he repeated. ‘‘ What does 
one make out of that? It might be that this 
boy has been planning a secret voyage with some 
other chap. Certainly sounds like it. Other 
i^feages were the same kind. By Jove! Per- 
^ps he’s skipped out and gone on that trip and 
is not hiding out at all! Let’s see.” 

Taking down a file he drew forth a bunch of 
message records clipped together. They were 
those sent by the moving operator on 600, the 
millionaire’s son. 

A long time he studied over these. 

Seems to sort of prove my theory,” he 
muttered once. Can’t be sure though.” 

Then, suddenly he sat up straight. That’s 
the idea.” He slapped his knee. '‘The very 


86 Curlie Carson Listens In 

thing!’’ Why didn’t I think of that before? 
If he doesn’t show up by morning I’ll do it. 
I’ll just take these records over to Ardmore 
and suggest to him that they may shed some 
light on the subject. Don’t need to tell him I 
was in on the wrecking of the car at all. That 
wouldn’t help any. These records might. And 
if I can help to find him and bring him back, 
then, oh, boy! Oh you baby fortune! Five 
thousand big, red, round dollars ! ” 

He sat back trying to measure the meaning 
of the possession of five thousand dollars which 
did not have to be spent for bed, board and 
clothing. At last he gave it up in despair. 

The morning papers assured the interested 
city that the son of their money king was still 
missing. To make sure that this report was 
correct, Curlie called up the mansion and in- 
quired about it. When he learned that it was 
indeed true, he requested the servant who an- 
swered the telephone to inform the millionaire 
that a representative of the Secret Service of 
the Air would arrive at his residence with 


Curlie Meets a Millionaire 87 

copies of certain radiophone messages sent out 
by his son previous to his mysterious disappear- 
ance, which might shed some light on the 
subject. 

Shortly after that he leaped into the driver’s 
seat on the Humming Bird and motored away 
to the west. 

Arrived at the Forest Preserve, he backed 
the car into the deserted roadway in the forest 
at the very spot where he and Joe had con- 
cealed themselves the night of the race. 

Have to leave you here, old thing,” he 
whispered. ‘‘ If a fellow were to pull up that 
driveway in such a rakish craft as you are, they 
might think him crazy and throw him out. 

‘‘ Well here goes,” he whispered to himself, 
as, having rounded the last clump of decorative 
shrubbery, he came in sight of the red stone 
mansion. 

Whew ! What a stunner ! ” whispered 
Curlie to himself. 

The sun was tipping the parapets of that 
mansion with gold ; the dew sparkled on the per- 


88 Curlie Carson Listens In 

fectly kept green. It was indeed a beautiful 
picture. 

Tiptoeing up the steps, he was about to 
lift the heavy bronze knocker when a porter 
opened the door and motioned him to enter. 

‘‘Are you the man?”’ he asked in a low tone. 

“ I’m the boy who wired about the messages.” 

“ Step right this way. He’s waiting.” 

Curlie’s heart beat fast. Was he to be 
ushered at once into the august presence of the 
magnate? He had pictured to himself hours 
of waiting, interviews by private secretaries and 
all that. 

And yet here he was. In a large room fur- 
nished in rich mahogany, seemingly the rich 
man’s home office, he was being greeted by a 
stout, broad-shouldered, brisk and healthy- 
looking man who was assuring him that he 
was speaking to J. Anson Ardmore himself 
and inviting him to sit down. 

With his head in a whirl, he managed to 
get himself into a chair. And all this while 
he was telling himself things; things like this: 


Curlie Meets a Millionaire 89 

Curlie, old boy, this is going to be strenuous. 
This man is powerful, magnetic, almost hypno- 
tizing. He will find out as much as he can 
from you. He will tell as little as is necessary 
to attain his end. To him all life is a game, 
a game in which he conceals much and dis- 
covers all that lies in his opponent’s hand. He 
probably knows you have the goods on his son. 
Perhaps he is merely playing a game about this 
vanishing son. He may know where he is all 
the time. If so, he’ll want to know what you 
know, and what you are going to do. You must 
be wise — wise as a serpent.” 

‘‘Well?” the magnate spoke in a brisk way. 
“ My butler tells me you have some messages.” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“ Sent by my missing son? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“And may I ask,” the magnate’s face was 
a mask, not a muscle moved, “how you hap- 
pened to be in possession of these messages?” 

Curlie could hear his own heart beat, but he 
held his ground. “ Since I am attached to the 


90 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


government radiophone staff, it is my duty to 
catch and record all unfair and illegally sent 
messages, to record them as evidence and for 
future reference.’’ 

Curlie fancied he saw the man start The 
words that followed were spoken still in a 
cold, collected tone. 

‘‘These messages you say were unfair?” 

“ Unfair and illegally sent.” 

“How illegal?” 

“ They were sent with exceedingly high 
power and on 600 meter wave lengths. Such 
high power is unlawful for all amateurs and 
the use of 600 is granted to ships and ship 
stations alone. 

“Ah!” 

For a second the man appeared to reflect. 
Then suddenly: 

“ We are wasting time. My son has mys- 
teriously disappeared. I have reason to fear 
foul play. Let me assure you that I know 
nothing about his whereabouts and, previous to 
this moment, that I have known nothing regard- 


Curlie Meets a Millionaire 91 

ing these illegally sent messages.’’ 

‘‘ But — ” began Curlie. 

‘‘ You doubt my word,” his voice grew stern 
and hard as he read the incredulity in Curlie’s 
eyes. ‘‘ Young man,” he fairly thundered, 
‘‘ fix this in your mind: No man ever has risen 
or ever will rise to my present position through 
treachery or deceit. When I say a thing is so, 
by thunder it is so ! ” 

He struck his desk a terrific blow. 

^^Buta — ” 

Curlie caught himself just in time. He had 
been about to reveal the fact that he was aware 
of the presence of the wireless set in the auto 
the night the millionaire’s son disappeared. 

‘‘ I can’t see just how your messages could 
aid us in finding my son.” The magnate spoke 
more calmly. However, all things are pos- 
sible. May I see the copies ? ” 

^^Of course,” said Curlie, hesitatingly, ''this 
is a private matter. Few persons know of our 
service. It is the desire of the government 
that they should not know. These are not for 


92 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


publication. Do you understand that?’’ 

You have my word.” 

Curlie passed the sheath of papers over the 
desk. 

Slowly, one by one, the great man read them. 
His movement was not hurried. He digested 
every word. Like many another great man 
he had formed the habit of gathering, as far 
as possible, the full meaning of any set of 
facts by his own careful research, before al- 
lowing his opinion to be influenced by others. 

He had gone half through the pack when a 
door over at the right opened and a girl, dressed 
in some filmy stuff which brought out the 
smoothness of her neck and arms and the beauty 
of her complexion, entered the room. 

Curlie caught his breath. It was the girl he 
had seen on the horse that morning, the mag- 
nate’s daughter. 

She had advanced halfway to her father’s 
desk before she became aware of Curlie’s pres- 
ence. Then she started back with a stammered: 
''I — I beg your pardon.” 


Curlie Meets a Millionaire 93 

If s all right/’ The first smile Curlie 
had seen on the great man’s face now curved 
about his mouth. ‘‘ You may remain. This 
is no secret chamber.” 

Fa — father,” she faltered, gripping at her 
throat, “ does he know — know anything — 
about — about Vincent?” 

I can’t tell yet. I am going over the 
messages. Please be seated.” 

The girl sank into a deep leather-cushioned 
chair. Without looking at her Curlie was aware 
of the fact that she was studying him, perhaps 
trying to make up her mind where she had seen 
him before. This made him exceedingly un- 
comfortable. He was greatly relieved when at 
last the magnate spoke. 

“Gladys,” he addressed the girl, “did you 
say you found some sort of map in Vincent’s 
room? ” 

“ Oh, yes,” she sprang to her feet. “A photo- 
graph of a very strange looking map and also 
one of some queer foreign writing.” 

“Will you run and get those photographs?” 


94 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


^^Yes, father/’ 

strange,” the older man mused after 
she had gone. I don’t understand it at all. 
These messages, they are — ” 

If you please — ” Curlie broke in. 

" Wait ! ” commanded the other, holding up 
his hand for silence. ‘‘ Let us have no opinions 
before all of the evidence is in. That map may 
aid us in forming correct conclusions.” 


CHAPTER IX 
A MYSTERIOUS MAP 

It was indeed a curious map which had been 
reproduced on the large photographic print 
which Gladys Ardmore placed on the desk be- 
fore her father. 

Motioning Curlie to come forward and ex- 
amine it with them, the magnate rose from his 
chair to bend over the map. As Curlie stood 
there looking down at it, the girl in her eager- 
ness bent down so close to him that he felt her 
warm breath on his cheek. 

Nothing, however, could have drawn his 
gaze from that map. Wrinkled, torn in places, 
patched, browned with age, smirched by many 
finger marks, all of which were faithfully re- 
produced by the freshly printed photograph, it 
still gave promise of revealing many a mystery 
if one could but read it correctly. 

It showed both land and water. Here on the 
95 


96 Curlie Carson Listens In 

land was a picture of a castle and there on the 
water a ship. The shore of the land was not 
drawn as are maps with which we are in these 
days familiar, but was cut up in curious geo- 
metric forms which surely could not faithfully 
represent the true lines of the shore. Towns 
were shown, but only on the shoreline, their 
names printed in by hand in such small letters 
as would require a magnifying glass to read 
them. Crossing and recrossing the water in 
every conceivable direction were innumerable 
straight lines. About the edge of the map were 
eight faces of children. Their cheeks puffed 
out as if blowing, they appeared to represent 
the wind that blew from certain quarters. 

All the writing was in some foreign language. 
In the lower left-hand corner was what ap- 
peared to be the name of the maker but this 
was so blotted out as to be unreadable. 

Huh ! ’’ The magnate straightened up. 
‘‘That’s a strange map and appears to be very 
ancient, but I can hardly see how it is going 
to help us with our present problem.” 


97 


A Mysterious Map 

There is still the writing/’ suggested 
Gladys, turning over the other photograph. 

‘‘ That,” said Mr. Ardmore, after a moment’s 
study of it, ‘‘ is written in some strange tongue 
and is, I take it, unintelligible to us all.” 

‘‘ It’s a photograph of the back of the map,” 
suggested Curlie, pointing out certain spots 
where the wrinkles and tears were the same. 

My French teacher will be here at ten 
o’clock. He knows several languages. Per- 
haps he could help us,” suggested Gladys. 

‘‘We will leave that to him,” said her father. 
“ Now about these messages,” he went on, 
turning to Curlie. “What is your theory?” 

Stammeringly Curlie proceeded to explain the 
idea which had come to him, the notion that 
Vincent Ardmore and some pal of his had been 
planning a secret trip of some sort. 

“ That is entirely possible,” said Ardmore. 
“ Vincent is daring, even rash at times. If 
some wild fancy leaped into his head, he would 
attempt anything. Now that you speak of it, 
I do think there might be something in your 


98 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


theory. Perhaps after all we may get some 
light from that map and the writing on the 
back of it. I shall await the coming of the 
professor with much anxiety.’’ 

Father,” exclaimed Gladys, ‘‘ I have seen 
some such maps as this one at some other place.” 

Where? ” 

'' It was over at that big library, the one, you 
are a director of.” 

The Newtonian? ” 

‘‘ Yes. I was over there once and they 
showed me a great number of ancient maps. 
Oh, a very great number, and such strange 
affairs as they were! There were some similar 
to this one. I know there were ! ” 

“ Young man,” said the magnate, turning to 
Curlie, “ may I command your services on this 
matter for the day? ” 

Curlie bowed. 

‘‘Good! You will not be unrewarded. I 
am of the opinion that something may be 
learned by a study of the maps my daughter 
speaks of. Unfortunately I am engaged; I 


99 


A Mysterious Map 

cannot go to the library. Would it be asking 
too much were I to request that you accompany 
her?’’ 

Curlie assured him it would not. In his 
heart of hearts he assured himself that it would 
be a great privilege. 

Very well then, Gladys,” the magnate bowed 
to his daughter, I suggest that you plan on 
being back here at eleven. By that time your 
French teacher may have something to tell us.” 

Bowing to them both, he dismissed them with 
a wave of his hand. 

As the neat little town car, which was ap- 
parently Gladys Ardmore’s exclusive property, 
hurried them away toward the north side 
library, Curlie had time to think and to steal a 
look now and then at his fair hostess. 

Matters had been going rather rapidly of 
late. He found it difficult to keep up with the 
march of events. What should be his next 
move? He was torn between two conflicting 
interests: his loyalty to the radio secret service 
bureau and his desire to be of service to this 


100 Curlie Carson Listens In 

girl and her father. The girl, as he stole a 
glance at her, appeared disturbed and troubled. 
There was a tenseness about the lines of her 
mouth, a droop to her eyelids. For all the 
world as if she were in some way to blame for 
what has happened,’’ he told himself. 

Instantly the question popped into his mind: 

Does she know more than she cares to tell ? 
He thought of the wireless equipment which had 
been removed from the wrecked car before the 
reporters had arrived. The laborer would 
hardly do that without orders from someone. 
Who had that someone been? The millionaire 
had denied all knowledge of the radiophone 
messages. Curlie believed that he had told the 
truth. Here was an added mystery. He was 
revolving this in his mind when the girl spoke: 

It must be very interesting listening in.” 

‘^Listening in?” Curlie feigned ignorance of 
her meaning. 

‘^Yes, isn’t that what you do? Listen in on 
radio all the time? ” 

Curlie started. How did she know? 


A Mysterious Map 101 

*^Why, yes, since you’ve asked, that is my 
work.” 

Where — where — ” she hesitated, ‘4s your 
station?” 

“That,” smiled Curlie, “is a state secret; 
very few know where it is.” 

“ Oh! ” she breathed. “A mystery? ” 

Curlie nodded. 

“ Something like that.” 

“ I love mysteries,” she whispered. “ I love 
to unravel them. Some day I shall surprise you. 
I shall come walking into that secret room of 
yours.” There was a look on her face that he 
had not seen there before. It was disturbing. 
It spoke of a quality which, he concluded, she 
had inherited from her father, the quality of 
firmness and determination, which had made 
him great. 

“I — I’d rather you wouldn’t try,” he almost 
stammered. 

“ Oh ! here we are,” she exclaimed, “at the 
library.’^ 

Leaping out of the car she led the way up 


102 Curlie Carson Listens In 

the broad steps of an imposing gray stone struc- 
ture. 

‘‘ Down this way/’ she whispered, as if awed 
by the vast fund of knowledge stowed away 
between those walls. Without further words 
they made their way within. 

Ten minutes later they were together bending 
over a great pile of ancient maps. Done on 
sheepskin and vellum, gray and brown with age, 
yet with colors as bright as on the day they 
were drawn, these maps spoke of an age that 
was gone and of a map-making art that is lost 
forever. 

'Took at this one ! ” exclaimed the girl. 
" The date’s on it — 1450. Made before the 
days of Columbus. And look! It is like the one 
Vincent had the photograph of; the most like 
of any.” 

" Yes, but not the same,” said Curlie. " See, 
those strangely shaped islands in the lower, 
right-hand corner are not on it; neither are the 
cherubs blowing to imitate the wind.” 

" That’s true,” said the girl in a disappointed 


A Mysterious Map 103 

tone, ‘‘ I had hoped it might be the same map. 
It might have told us something.’’ 

Suddenly Curlie was struck with an idea. 
Leaving the girl’s side, he approached the libra- 
rian. 

Have any of these maps been photographed 
recently?” he asked in a low tone. 

Not for several years,” she answered. 

But there are reproductions of these and 
others. They’re in a bound volume in the next 
room. There the maps are reproduced on a 
large scale and a description of each is given. 
The lady in charge will show you.” 

Curlie tiptoed into that room. He was soon 
turning the pages of a large book which re- 
sembled an atlas. 

After studying each successive page for some 
time, he came to a halt with a suppressed 
exclamation. 

There, staring up at him, was a reproduction 
of the very map which had been photographed 
for Vincent Ardmore and, if further proof 
were lacking, there on the opposite page was a 


104 Curlie Carson Listens In 

reproduction of the writing on the back of 
it, with a translation in fine print below. 

Hurriedly he read this translation through. 
Twice he paused in utter astonishment. Three 
times he wrote down a brief note on a scrap of 
paper. When he had finished, he looked at 
the lower left-hand corner of the map, then 
copied some figures reproduced there. 

Closing the book quickly, as if afraid the 
girl would find him looking at it, he paused for 
a second to banish all sign of excitement from 
his face, then walked leisurely from the room. 

‘‘Find anything?” he asked in as quiet a 
tone as he could command. 

“ No,” there was a tired and worried look 
in her eyes. “ Fm afraid the map is not here.” 

“ By the way,” he said in a casual way, “ does 
your brother happen to have a pal living at 
Landensport on the coast? ” 

“ Why, yes,” she said quickly, “that’s Alfred 
Brightwood. They were chums in Brimward 
Academy.” 

“ I thought that might be so.” 


105 


A Mysterious Map 

^‘And you think — think — she faltered. 

‘‘ What we think/' he smiled a disarming 
smile, doesn't count for much. It’s facts 
which really matter. Excuse me; I’ll be back 
in a moment,” he said hurriedly. ‘"Want to 
telephone.” 

In the booth of the library he conversed long 
and earnestly with his chief. 

Why, yes,” came over the phone at last, ‘‘ I 
don’t see but that you had better finish the 
thing up. We can’t let rich young offenders 
off easily. It would destroy the service en- 
tirely. Go ahead. Coles Masters can handle 
the station while you are away.” 

The interview ended, he got Joe Marion on 
the wire. 

‘‘ Joe,” he said hurriedly, ‘‘ throw some of 
my things into a bag and some of your own 
with them. Be down at the Lake Shore station 
at one-fifteen prepared for a short trip. Where 
to? Oh, New York and then some. It’s im- 
portant and interesting. Be there! Good. 
Good-bye till then.” He snapped down the 


106 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


receiver and hurriedly left the booth. 

'' Shall we go back? ’’ he asked the girl. 

‘‘I suppose we might as well,” she said de- 
jectedly. Then brightening suddenly, Yes, 
let’s hurry back. Perhaps the professor has 
found out something from that queer old 
writing.” 


CHAPTER X 

THE FIRST LAP OF A LONG JOURNEY 

On the way back to the Ardmore home both 
the girl and her escort were silent for some 
time. Then, turning to her, Curlie asked: 

‘‘ Has this friend of your brother’s — Bright- 
wood, did you say his name was? — has he a 
seaplane? ” 

Is that an airplane which flies up from the 
ocean and lights upon it when one wishes it 
to?” 

‘‘ Yes.” 

He has one of those. Yes, Pm sure of it. 
He wanted to take me for a ride out over the 
sea last summer.” 

‘^And is he what you would call a daring 
chap, ready to attempt anything?” 

«Why, yes, he is; but — but how do you 
know so many things?” 

‘‘ It is my duty to know.” 

107 


108 Curlie Carson Listens In 

Again he lapsed into silence. On arriving at 
the estate they found Gladys' father in a strange 
state of agitation. 

^‘Just received a telegram from an old and 
trusted friend who is on the coast of Maine. 
He says Vincent has been seen there within the 
last twenty-four hours. What that can mean I 
haven’t the faintest notion. I should go there 
at once but business makes it entirely im- 
possible.” 

‘‘ Under one condition,” said Curlie soberly, 

I will go East and attempt to bring your son 
home. Indeed, I shall go anyway; have al- 
ready arranged transportation, in fact, and leave 
in two hours; but it would please me if I might 
go with your approval.” 

“You have arranged to go?” The older 
man’s face expressed his astonishment. “ For 
what purpose?” 

“ On a commission for the government.” 

“And you wish my permission for what?” 

“To bring your son back with a warrant, 
under arrest,” 


First Lap of a Long Journey 109 

The older man looked at Curlie for a moment 
as if to discover whether or not he was joking. 

Young man/* he said slowly, do you know 
who I am? ** 

“ You are J. Anson Ardmore, one of the 
richest men of the Middle West.” 

''And do you know that I could crush you 
with my influence?” 

" No, sir, I do not.” Curlie drew himself up 
to his full height. "Those days are gone for- 
ever. I am part of the United States govern- 
ment, the government which has made it pos- 
sible for you to gain your wealth. Her laws 
must be obeyed. You could not crush me and, 
what is still more important, you have no notion 
of doing so.** 

" What ? ** The magnate’s face became a 
study, then it broke into a smile. " I like your 
spirit,” he said seizing Curlie’s hand in a vise- 
like grip. "You have the power of the law 
behind you; you need no consent of mine. But 
so be it; if my son has broken the law, he shall 
suffer the penalty.” 


110 Curlie Carson Listens In 

There is one other matter,” said Curlie so- 
berly. '‘At the present moment it is merely a 
theory. I am unable to offer any worth-while 
proof for it, but it is my belief that your son 
and his chum, Alfred Brightwood, are consid- 
ering a very perilous seaplane journey. Indeed, 
they may even at this moment be on their way. 
If that is true they should be followed at once in 
some swift traveling vessel, for they are almost 
certain to meet with disaster.” 

"That Brightwood boy will be the death of 
us all yet,” exploded the father. " For sheer 
foolhardy daring I have never known his equal. 
Time and again I have attempted to persuade 
Vincent to give up associating with him, but 
it has been of no avail. Alfred appears to hold 
some strange hypnotic power over him.” 

For a moment he stood there in silence. 
When he spoke he was again the sober, thought- 
ful business man. 

" If what you say is true, and you find that 
they have already departed on this supposed 
journey, my private yacht is at your disposal. 


First Lap of a Long Journey 111 

It lies in the mouth of the river at Landensport. 
The captain and engineer are on board. You 
will need no further crew. She is the fastest 
private engine-driven yacht afloat. If necessity 
demands, do not hesitate risking her destruction, 
but you will not, of course, endanger your own 
life.” 

“All right; then I guess everything is settled. 
You will wire instructions to the captain of the 
yacht. I must hurry to my train.” Curlie has- 
tened from the room. 

Joe was awaiting Curlie at the depot. Filled 
with an eager desire to know what was to be 
the nature of this new adventure, he could wait 
scarcely long enough to buy tickets, reserve 
sleeper berths, and to board the train before de- 
manding full details. 

The train was a trifle slow in pulling out. 
As he outlined the situation to Joe, Curlie kept 
an eye out of the window. Once he caught 
sight of a slight girlish figure which seemed 
familiar. He could not be sure, so heavily 
veiled was her face. 


112 Curlie Carson Listens In 

He had quite forgotten the incident when, a 
few hours later, he entered the diner for his 
evening lunch. What then was his surprise, on 
entering, to see Gladys Ardmore calmly seated 
at a table and nibbling at a bun. 

She motioned him to a seat opposite her. 

‘‘ You didn’t expect to have me for a fellow- 
passenger, did you?” she smiled. 

Curlie shook his head. 

Well, I didn’t expect to go until the last 
moment. Then the professor came with the 
translation of the writing on the map all written 
out. Father thought you should have it, so he 
sent me with it. I arrived just in time and 
decided all at once that I ought to — Oh, that 
I wanted — that I must go with you.” There 
was a pathetic catch in her voice that went 
straight to Curlie’s heart. 

‘‘ After all,” he told himself, ‘‘he’s her brother 
and that means a lot.” 

When he looked at her the next moment he 
discovered there the strangely determined look 


First Lap of a Long Journey 113 

which was so like her father’s, and which he 
had seen once before on her face. 

Here is the translation,” she said simply as 
she passed over a roll of paper. “ Order your 
dinner ; we will have plenty of time to look over 
the papers later.” 

She’s a most determined and composed little 
piece of humanity,” was Curlie’s mental com- 
ment. ‘‘ I don’t like her following me, but 
since she’s here I suppose I better make the 
best of it ! ” 

Had he known how far she would follow him 
and what adventures she was destined to share 
with him, he might have been tempted to wire 
her father to call her back. Since he did not 
know, he ordered meat-pie, French fried po- 
tatoes, English tea biscuits, cocoa and apple pie, 
then settled himself down to talk of trivial mat- 
ters until the meal was over. 

When at last he saw the waiter remove the 
girl’s finger bowl, Curlie put out his hand for 
the paper. The hand trembled a trifle. Truth 
was, he was more eager than he was willing to 


114 Curlie Carson Listens In 

admit to read the French teacher's translation 
of the writing on the back of the map. 

Now as he held it in his hand one question 
came to the forefront in his mind: Was this 
photograph a reproduction of the map that had 
looked so much like it, the one in the great vol- 
ume at the library? The translation would 
clear up that point. 

But then it might not be, he reasoned. The 
book said that the original of this map had 
belonged to an English lord something like a 
hundred years ago; that it had disappeared and 
nothing had been heard of it since. 

The professor said,” smiled the girl, a 
trifle anxiously, that the writing was in very, 
very old Spanish and for that reason he might 
not have understood every word of it correctly 
but that taking it all in all he thought he had 
made the meaning clear.” 

‘‘We'll have a look,” said Curlie, unfolding 
the paper. 

“He said it was the photograph of a very 
unusual manuscript, rare and valuable.” There 


115 


First Lap of a Long Journey 

was something about the way the girl said this 
which led Curlie to guess that she might know 
who was in possession of the original. He was, 
however, too much excited over the first lines 
of the translation to ask her any questions. 

The Island of Lagos.’’ He read the title to 
himself. Beneath this in brackets were the 
words : 

Being the account of how the good ship 
Torence was cast ashore on an unknown island 
in the midst of the great sea ; an island whereon 
there are many barbarians having much gold.” 

Curlie caught his breath. Save for one word 
the translation was the same as that he had 
read in the book. That word was of no con- 
sequence. 

‘‘ It’s the same map ! ” he told himself. The 
very same ! ” 

The girl, leaning over the table, watched him 
eagerly. She was both excited and elated over 
the find. 

Isn’t it wonderful? ” she exclaimed, clasping 
her hands. 'T think it’s great! And to think 


116 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


that my brother and his chum were the ones 
who found it ! ” 

Haven’t read it all,” Curlie mumbled. 

“ Then read on. Read it all. Please do.” 


CHAPTER XI 

‘^MANY BARBARIANS AND 
MUCH GOLD’’ 

Curlie, obeying her instructions, read on and 
with every line his conviction grew stronger 
that the conclusions he had come to were well 
formed. 

This is what he read: 

‘‘ Having spent Good Friday with his family, 
our captain, deeming further delay but loss of 
time, determined to cast anchor and sail for the 
coast of Ireland. Here he hoped to do a brisk 
business at barter with the peasants and fisher- 
folk who inhabit the shores. 

But Providence had determined otherwise. 
Hardly had we been from shore a half day’s 
journey, when, without warning, from out the 
night there rose a great tumult. This tumult, 
coming as it did from the shore, grasped us in 
117 


118 Curlie Carson Listens In 

its mighty arms and hurled us league by league 
in directions that we would not go. And be- 
ing exceedingly tossed with the tempest we 
lightened the ship. On the fourth day we, with 
our own hand, cast out the tackle of the ship. 
And when not sun nor moon nor stars had 
appeared for many days, we counted ourselves 
for lost; for, having been carried straight away 
these many days, we expected nothing but that 
we would come soon to that dark and dreadful 
place which is the end of all land and all seas.’’ 

Isn’t it wonderful? ” whispered the girl. 

Curlie was too much absorbed to answer her. 

‘‘ When we had given up all hope,” he read 
on, ‘‘ Markus Laplone, a very old seaman, said 
we were nearing some land. 

“ We took soundings and found it forty 
fathoms. Then again it was thirty. Then with 
hopeful hearts we looked for that land. But 
when at last it broke through the fog it was 
no land that any of the men had seen, no, not 
the oldest seaman. 

‘‘ But fearing to be cast upon rocks, we kept 


‘^Mcmy Barbarians and Much Gold'' 119 

a good watch that we might find some harbor. 
At last we were rewarded, for to the right of 
us there was a river flowing into the sea. 

‘‘The storm having somewhat abated, we 
took oars, such as had not been broken by the 
storm, and some with two men to the oar and 
some with but one, we made shift to enter this 
river; having accomplished which, we dropped 
anchor and gave thanks to God for the preserva- 
tion of our lives. 

“ Now, on coming on shore we found this to 
be indeed a strange land. Not alone were the 
trees and all vegetation of a sort unknown to 
us, but the barbarians who came about us were 
of a complexion such as not one man of us 
had ever before beheld. 

“And, what was more astounding, as we made 
a fire to cook us food, there passed by us bear- 
ing on their backs strangely woven baskets, a 
caravan of these half-naked barbarians. And, 
when we motioned to show them we would see 
within his basket, one of these lowered his 
basket. 


120 Curlie Carson Listens In 

‘‘What we saw astounded us much, for it 
was all filled with finely-beaten gold. The fel- 
low had as much of it as a stout sailor would be 
able to carry. And there were many such 
baskets. 

‘‘When I made as though I would take the 
gold, he became very angry, and would have 
struck me down with an ugly spear which he 
bore. 

“ But when I laughed, making as though it 
were a joke, he gave me a small piece, the 
which is at this time in my possession, as proof 
that what I have written here is truth and no 
lie. 

“ Now this island I have shown on the map, 
the nether side upon which I am writing, as a 
star with six points to it; though the shore 
marking nor the extent of the island is as yet 
unknown to any but those barbarians who live 
upon it.’’ 

There ended the main portion of the story, 
but in a bracket at the bottom was written: 

“ In some other place will be found the ac- 


**M(my Barbarians and Mitch Gold^^ 121 

count of our miraculous return from this 
strange and mysterious island of many bar- 
barians and much gold/' 

As Curlie finished, he glanced up with a 
sigh. 

The girl was staring at him so intently that 
he could not but think she was attempting to 
read his thoughts. 

Isn't it wonderful? " she breathed at last. 

‘‘Yes," said Curlie quickly, “you expressed 
it even better before. It's great ! " 

He looked away. His head was in a whirl. 
It was the long-lost map; he was sure of that 
now. He remembered the figures he had copied 
from that other reproduction. They were 
blurred and unreadable on this one. Should he 
tell her?" 

His lips opened but no sound came out. No, 
he would not tell her, not at this time. There 
might be some other way. 

“ Your brother and his chum," he said evenly, 
“have gone in search of that island of gold." 

She stared at him in silence. 


122 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


'' If they haven’t gone already, they may be 
gone before we reach the coast,” he continued. 

They will probably go in Alfred Brightwood’s 
seaplane.” 

‘‘ Yes, yes,” she broke her spell of silence. 
“ That is the way they would go. It’s — it’s 
a wonderful plane ! You — you don’t think any- 
thing could happen to them, do you ? ” 

Supposing they do not find the island? 

‘‘ But they will.” 

‘‘ It is to be hoped that they will find an 
island — some island.” 

It’s a wonderful plane. It would cross the 
Atlantic ! ” She clasped and unclasped her 
hands. 

But supposing,” he rose from his chair in 
his excitement, supposing they don’t find the 
island exactly where they expect to find it? 
Supposing, in their eagerness to find that gold, 
they circle and circle and circle in search of 
the island until there is no longer any gas in 
the tank to bring them home.” 

Oh, you don’t think that ! ” She sprang to 


^^Mcmy Barbarians and Much Gold ^ ^ 123 

her feet and, gripping his arm to steady her- 
self, looked up into his eyes. There was a 
heartbreaking appeal in those blue eyes of hers. 

‘‘ I think,” said Curlie steadily, that my 
pal, Joe Marion, and I, if we find them gone 
when we get there, will take your father’s 
speedy yacht and go for a little pleasure trip in 
the general direction they have taken. Then 
if they chance to get into trouble, we can give 
them a lift. Besides,” there came a twinkle in 
his eye, which was wholly lost on the girl, “ they 
might need the yacht to carry home the gold.” 

Oh, will you?” she exclaimed, gripping his 
arm until it hurt. “ That will be grand of you. 
For you know,” she faltered, ‘'I — I feel a 
little bit responsible for what they have done 
and if anything should happen I could never 
forgive myself. I — Fll tell you about it some 
time.” 

For a moment they stood there in silence, she 
steadying herself from the rock of the train b)* 
clinging to his arm. 

I think,” she said soberly, '' if you go in 


124 Curlie Carson Listens In 

father’s yacht, that I shall go along with you.” 

'‘And I think,” said Curlie in a decided tone, 
" that you won’t.” 

She said not another word but had he taken 
a look at her face just then he would have found 
there the expression that he had seen there be- 
fore, the expression which she had inherited 
from her father, the self-made millionaire. 

That night in his berth, as the train rushed 
along on its eastward journey, Curlie narrated 
to Joe Marion all the events which had led up 
to the present moment, and as much of his 
conclusions as he had told to Gladys Ardmore. 

" So you see, Joe, old boy,” he concluded, 
" if those young millionaires are away before 
we arrive we’re destined to take a little trip 
which may have an adventure or two in it; 
that is, at least I will.” 

" Count me in,” said Joe soberly. '' I go 
anywhere you do.” 

“ Good ! ” exclaimed Curlie, gripping his 
hand. "And in the end,” he concluded, "I 
think we shall have told the world in a rather 


*^M(my Barbarians and Much Gold'* 125 

effective way that the air must be free for the 
important messages; that Uncle Sam has the 
right of way in the air as well as on land or 
sea and that he has ways of defending those 
rights.” 

At that they turned over, to lie there listening 
to the click-click of wheels over rails until sleep 
claimed them. 


CHAPTER XII 

OUT TO SEA IN A COCKLESHELL 

Darkness was falling when at last Curlie and 
Joe reached the station at Landensport. In 
spite of the fact that they had had no supper 
and were weary from travel, Curlie insisted on 
going at once to the hangar where the Stormy 
Petrel, Alfred Bright wood’s seaplane, was kept. 

‘‘ Yes,” said the keeper of the hangar, they 
hopped off six hours ago. Seemed to be pre- 
paring for somethin’ of a journey; they filled the 
tanks with gas and loaded her cabin full of 
things to eat. Some sort of a picnic, I reckon. 
Strange part of it was,” he said reflectively, ‘‘ I 
watched ’em as they went and sure’s I’m standin’ 
here they shot out to sea, straight as an arrow, 
and far as you could see ’em they was going 
right on. Couldn’t be tryin’ to cross the At- 
lantic, but you can never tell what’ll get into 
126 


Ovi to Sea in a Cockleshell 127 

that Brightwood boy’s head. He’s darin’, he is. 
Jest some picnic, though, I reckon.” 

“ Some picnic all right ! ” said Curlie em- 
phatically. '' Some picnic for all of us ! ” 

^'Eh? What?” the keeper turned on him 
quickly. 

Curlie did not answer. 

Vincent Ardmore went with him, I sup- 
pose,” Curlie said after a moment’s silence. 

'' Of course. Just them two.” 

'‘Was the plane equipped with wireless?” 

" Yes. They spent two days tending to that ; 
seemed to be mighty particular about it.” 

" Yes, of course they would.” 

"Eh? What?” the man turned sharply 
about. 

Curlie was silent again. 

" It’s funny about them wireless rigs for a 
plane,” said the keeper at last. " You git your 
ground by hanging a wire seventy-five er a 
hundred feet down from the plane, then you 
get ground just the same as if the wire was 
dragging through the sea, don’t matter whether 


128 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


you’re up a hundred miles or five thousand. 
Strange stuff, this radio.” 

Yes,” said Curlie, it is. By the way,” he 
exclaimed suddenly, ‘‘ do you know about this 
new Packard-Prentiss equipment?” 

‘'Yes, sir; was tryin’ one out only yesterday. 
Fine thing.” 

“ Reliable?” 

“Absolutely.” 

“ Know where I can get one? ” 

“ Over at Dorrotey’s sea-goods store on the 
dock. He’s got one er two for sale.” 

“ Thanks.” He and Joe started away. 

“ Next place is Dock No. 3. The Kittlewake, 
the Ardmore yacht, is tied up over there. Un- 
less I miss my guess we’ll be off to sea in less 
than two hours,” said Curlie to Joe. “ Speed’s 
the word now. Those two young dreamers have 
gotten away by plane. We’ve got to stand by 
in the Kittlezvake or they’ll never be seen again. 
I don’t propose to allow the sea to rob me of 
my first important offender against the laws of 
the air.” 


Out to Sea in a Cochleshell 129 

By the way/’ said Joe,” where is Gladys 
Ardmore? I haven’t seen her since we left 
New York.” 

I don’t know and I’m glad I don’t,” said 
Curlie. She let fall a remark in the dining 
car that I didn’t like. She said she thought 
she’d go along with us on this trip. A five 
hundred mile trip straight out to sea in a 
fifty-foot pleasure yacht with a fifteen-foot 
beam, is no sort of trip for a girl. I was afraid 
she’d try to insist. That would have caused a 
scene, for unless I miss my guess she’s the 
determined sort like her father.” 

It’s queer she gave us up so quickly.” 

‘‘ Yes, but I’m glad she did.” 

Suddenly Curlie started. As they rounded a 
corner he caught sight of a trim, slender fig- 
ure. This girl had been standing in the light 
of a shop window. Now she dodged inside. 

‘"Huh!” he grunted. “Thought that looked 
like her, but of course it couldn’t be. Some 
ship captain’s daughter probably.” 

They arrived on board the Kittlewake just 


130 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


as the captain, a red-faced old British salt, and 
the engineer, a silent man who was fully as 
slim and wiry of build as Curlie himself, were 
finishing lunch. 

‘Tardon me,” said Curlie, ‘‘but did you get 
Mr. Ardmore’s wire?” 

“You’re this wireless man, Curlie Carson?” 
asked the captain. 

“ Yes.” 

“ ’Is message is ’ere ; came this morning.” 

“Then you’re ready to put oflf at once.” 

“At once ! ” The captain stared his amaze - 
ment. “ ’Ere it is night. At once, ’e says! ” 

“It’s very necessary that we go at once,” 
said Curlie firmly, “and I believe you have your 
orders.” 

“ To be hat your service in hevery particular.” 

“All right then, we must be on our way in 
an hour.” 

“Wot course?” The skipper rose to his 
feet. 

“ This is the point we must reach with all 
speed,” said Curlie, drawing the photograph of 


Out to Sea in a Cockleshell 131 

the mysterious old map from his pocket and 
pointing to the star near the center. '' Com- 
pare that with your own chart, locate it as well 
as you can and then mark out your own course.’’ 

The skipper stared at him as though he 
thought Curlie crazy. 

‘^That! Why that — ” 

Turning quickly, he disappeared up the hatch, 
to return presently with a chart. This he placed 
upon the table, beside the photograph. 

After five minutes of close study he turned 
an astonished face upon the boy. 

‘That, as I ’ave thought, is five ’undred 
miles hout to sea. Five ’undred miles in a 
cockleshell. Man, you’re daft.” 

“All right,” said Curlie; “the trip’s got to 
be made. I thought you might be afraid to 
undertake it; that’s why I wanted to know at 
once. I’ll go out and hunt another skipper. 
There’s surely plenty of them idle these dull 
times.” 

“ Hafraid, did ’e say! Me! Hafraid!” 
The skipper was purple with rage. “ Hafraid 


132 Ciirlie Carson Listens In 

’e says. ’E says it, a bloomin’ Yankee kid, an’ 
me as ’as ’ad ships sunk under me twice by the 
bloody German submarines ! Me, Captain 
Jarvis, hafraid.” 

He turned suddenly upon Curlie. “ Go git 
yer togs an’ shake a leg er the bloomin’ Kittle- 
wake ’ll be off without you on board.” 

‘‘That’s the talk!” smiled Curlie. “Never 
fear! We’ll be here.” 

He turned to Joe. “You go ashore and buy 
us each a suit of roughing-it things, a so’-wester 
and the like. We’ll need ’em. I’ll be back in 
less than an hour.” 

When Curlie returned from his mission 
ashore he carried but one bundle. That re- 
sembled a fence-post in size and shape. It 
was carefully wrapped and sealed in sticky 
black tar cloth. 

“ Going to throw a message overboard in 
case we’re lost, I suppose,” laughed Joe. 

“ Something like that,” Curlie laughed back. 
Nevertheless, he carried the thing with great 
care to. his stateroom and deposited it beneath 


Out to Sea in a Cochleshell 133 

his berth in the cabin forward on the main 
deck. 

An hour later the two boys were standing on 
deck watching the shore lights fade. Each 
was busy with his own thoughts and wondering, 
no doubt, in his own way how much of adven- 
ture this trip held for him. 


CHAPTER XIII 
A GHOST WALKS 

Ever take much interest in gasoline en- 
gines?” Curlie suddenly inquired of Joe. 

‘'Yes, quite a bit; had a shift on one of 
those marine kinds last summer on the Great 
Lakes.” 

“Good! You'll have to take a shift here on 
the Kittlewake, This trip can’t be made with- 
out sleep. I’ll spell the captain at the wheel 
and you can relieve that lanky engineer.” 

Again they lapsed into silence. Half un- 
consciously each boy was taking stock of the 
craft they had requisitioned, trying to judge 
whether or not she was equal to the task she 
had been put to. Speed she had in plenty. “ Do 
forty knots a ’our,” the skipper put it, “an’ 
never ’eat a bearin’.” 

She was a trim craft. Narrow of beam, a 

134 


A Ghost Walks 135 

two-master with a steel hull that stood well 
out of the water forward, she rode the water 
with the repose and high glee of the bird she 
was named after. 

‘‘ Yes, she’s a beauty, and a go-getter,” 
Curlie was thinking to himself, '' but in a 
storm, now, four or five hundred miles from 
land, what then?” 

Had he known how soon his question was 
to be answered he might well have shuddered. 

Better go down and have a look at the 
engines before you turn in for a wink of 
sleep,” he told Joe. 

When Joe had gone below, Curlie still sat 
there on the rail aft. The throb of the engines 
beneath him, the rapid rush of air that fanned 
his cheek, was medicine to his weary brain. 
He had been caught in a whirlwind of events 
and here, for a time, he had been cast down in 
a quiet place where his mind might clear itself 
of the wreckage of thought that had been 
torn up and strewn about within it. 

It had been a wild race. He had lost thus 


136 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


far; would he lose in the end? Had he, after 
all, trusted too much to theory? Had these two 
sons of rich men really only gone for some 
picnic trip to a well-known island farther south 
along the coast? Or had they, as he had as- 
sumed, guided by their ancient map, gone in 
search of the island of many barbarians and 
much gold,” an island which he was convinced 
existed only in name? 

The girl, too; what had she meant when she 
said she was in some ways responsible for her 
brother’s actions? There was something queer 
about the whole affair. Who had taken the 
wireless equipment from the wrecked car out 
there by the Forest Preserve? Did young Ard- 
more have the ancient original of that in- 
teresting map or only the photograph? If he 
did not have it, who was in possession of it? 
Strange thing that it would be lost for a hun- 
dred years only to have a brand-new photo- 
graph of it show up all at once. Rather ghostly, 
he thought. He had meant to ask Gladys Ard- 
more about that. He’d ask her now if she 


A Ghost Walks 137 

were here. But he was more than glad she 
was not here. 

‘‘ No trip for a girl/^ he told himself, and 
she said sheM go. Strange she gave it up so 
easily. Strange that — ’’ 

His thoughts broke off suddenly as he stared 
forward. The Kittlewake was equipped with 
three cabins; a forecastle and aftercabin, both 
below the main deck, built largely for stormy 
weather, and a fair-weather cabin in the cen- 
ter of the main deck. The night was dark, 
the moon not having come up. It was difficult 
to distinguish objects at a distance, but, unless 
his eyes deceived him, Curlie saw some object, 
all white and ghostly, rising slowly from the 
hatchway leading to the forecastle. Cold perspi- 
ration sprang out upon- his brow, his heart beat 
madly, his knees trembled as he involuntarily 
moved forward. That was the way he had of 
treating ghosts ; he walked straight at them. 

In the meantime, had one been on some 
craft three hundred miles farther on in the 
direct course of the Kittlewake, he might have 


138 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


caught the thunderous drumming of two pow- 
erful Liberty motors. He might also have seen 
a spot of light playing constantly upon the 
black waters. While this light was constant, 
it moved rapidly forward in a wide circle. The 
circle was never the same in size or location, 
yet the spot of light did not move more than 
twenty miles in any direction from a certain 
given center. The spot of illumination came 
from a powerful searchlight mounted upon a 
seaplane. It was manipulated by a boy in the 
rear seat. A second boy drove the plane. These 
boys, as you have no doubt long since guessed, 
were Vincent Ardmore and his reckless pal, 
Alfred Brightwood. 

This light had been playing upon the water 
since darkness had fallen, some three hours 
before. They had been circling for four hours. 
Their hopes of completing their search before 
dark had been thwarted by a defective engine 
which had compelled them to make a landing 
upon the sea when the journey was only half 
completed. 


A Ghost Walks 


139 


At this particular moment the plane was 
climbing steadily. It was a perfect ‘‘ man- 
bird ” of the air, was this Stormy Petrel, With 
broad spreading planes and powerful motors, 
it was the type of plane that now and again 
hops oflf from some point in England during 
the dewy morning hours and carries her crew 
safely to Cuba without a single stop. 

Yet these boys were not planning a trip across 
to Europe. They were, as Curlie had supposed 
they might be, hunting for the island of many 
barbarians and much gold.’’ 

When they had mounted to a considerable 
height, Alfred shut off the engines and allowed 
her to volplane toward the sea. 

'‘Aw, let’s give it up and get back,” said 
Vincent downheartedly. " It’s not here. Prob- 
ably that old map-maker made a mistake of a 
trifling hundred miles or so.” 

“ That’s a grand idea ! ” exclaimed Bright- 
wood, grasping at a straw. " Not a hundred 
miles but perhaps thirty or forty miles. Old 
boy, we’ll be cooking lunch on a stove of pure 


140 Curlie Carson Listens In 

gold in half an hour. You’ll see! Just get 
your light fixed right and I’ll take a wider circle. 
That’ll get it.” 

But if we use up much more gas we won’t 
get back to land,” hesitated Vincent. 

“ Land ! Who wants to get back to land I ” 
the other exploded. If worst comes to worst 
we’ve got the wireless, haven’t we? We can 
light on the water and send out an S. O. S., 
can’t we? I must say you’re a mighty bum 
sailor.” . 

‘‘ Oh, all right,” said Vincent, stung into 
silence, go ahead and try it.” 

Again the motors thundered. Again the spot 
light traced a circular path across the dark 
waters, which to the boy who held the light, 
appeared to be reaching up black, fiendish hands 
to drag them down. This time the circle they 
cut was many miles in circumference, miles 
which drew deeply from the supply of gasoline 
in their tanks. 


CHAPTER XIV 
THE COMING STORM 

As Curlie’s feet carried him forward on the 
deck of the Kittlewake, his eyes beheld the 
ghost which rose from the hatch taking on a 
familiar form. A white middy blouse, short 
white skirt and a white tarn, worn by a slender 
girl, moved forward to meet him. As the form 
came into the square of light cast by a cabin 
window, his lips framed her name: 

Gladys Ardmore ! ” 

‘‘ Why, yes,” she smiled, didn’t you expect 
me? I told you I thought Fd go.” 

‘‘And I said you should not.” Her coolness 
angered him. 

“ You forget that this is my father’s boat. A 
man’s daughter should always be a welcome 
guest on his boat.” 

“ But — but that’s not it,” he hesitated. “ This 

141 


142 Curlie Carson Listens In 

is not a pleasure trip. We are going five hun- 
dred miles straight to sea in a boat intended 
for shore travel. It’s likely to storm.” He 
sniffed the air and held his cheek to the breeze 
that was already breaking the water into little 
choppy waves. It is going to be dangerous.” 

‘‘ But you are going,” she said soberly, ‘‘ to 
the assistance of my brother. I have a better 
right than you to risk my life to save my own 
brother. I can be of assistance to you. Truly, 
I can. I can be the galley cook.” 

'‘You a cook? ” He looked his surprise. 

“ Certainly. Do you think a rich man’s 
daughter can do nothing but play tennis and 
pour tea? Those times are gone, if indeed they 
ever existed. I am as able to do things as is 
your sister, if you have one.” 

" But,” said Curlie suddenly, “ I am going 
from a sense of duty. Having set out to have 
your brother arrested I mean to do it.” 

For a full moment she stared at him stupefied. 
Then she said slowly, through set, white lips: 
"You wouldn’t do that?” 


The Coming Storm 


143 


‘‘ Why shouldn’t I ? ” His tone was more 
gentle. ‘‘ He has broken the laws of the air. 
Time and again he sent messages on 600, a 
radio wave length reserved to coast and ship 
service alone. He has hindered sea traffic and 
once narrowly escaped being the death of brave 
men at sea.” 

Oh,” she breathed, sinking down upon a coil 
of cable, ‘‘I — didn’t know it was as bad as 
that. And I — I — knew all about it. I — I — ” 
She did not finish but sat there staring at him. 
At last she spoke again. Her tone was strained 
and husky with emotion. 

“ You — you’ll want to arrest me too when 
you know the truth.” 

You’ll not be dragged into it unless you 
insist.” 

But I do insist ! ” She sprang to her feet. 
Her nails digging into her clenched fists, she 
faced him. Her eyes were bright and terrible. 

Do you think,” she fairly screamed, that 
I would be part of a thing that was wrong, 
whether I knew it or not at the time, and then 


144 Curlie Carson Listens In 

when trouble came from it, do you think that I 
would sneak out of it and allow someone else to 
suffer for it? Do you think Fd sneak out of 
it because anyone would let me — because I am 
a girl?’’ 

Completely at a loss to know what to do upon 
this turn of events, Curlie stood there staring 
back at the girl. 

She at last sank back upon her seat. Curlie 
took three turns around the deck. At last he 
approach'ed her with a steady step. 

Miss Ardmore,” he said, taking off his cap, 

I apologize. I — I really didn’t know that a 
girl could be that kind of a real sport.” 

Before she could answer he hurried on: 
‘‘ For the time being we can let the matter we 
were just speaking of rest. Matters far more 
important than the vindicating of the law, im- 
portant as that always is, are before us. Your 
brother and his friend, unless I am mistaken, 
are in grave danger. We may be able to save 
them; we may not. We can but try and this 
trial requires all our wisdom and strength. 


The Coming Storm 145 

“ More than that/’ he again held his face 
to the stiffening gale, ‘‘ we ourselves are in 
considerable danger. Whether this ‘ cockle- 
shell,’ as the skipper calls her, can weather a 
severe storm on the open sea, is a question. 
That question is to be answered within a few 
hours. We’re in for a blow. We’re too far 
on our way to retreat if we wished to. We must 
weather it. You can be of assistance to us as 
you suggest, and more than that, you can help 
us by being brave, fearless and hopeful. May 
we count on you? ” 

There was a cold, brave smile on the girl’s 
face as she answered: 

You know my father. He has never yet 
been beaten. I am his child.” 

Then suddenly, casting all reserve aside, she 
gripped his arm and bestowing a warm smile 
upon him said almost in a whisper: 

Curlie Carson, I like you. You’re real, the 
realest person I ever knew.” Then turning 
swiftly about, she danced along the deck, to 
disappear down the hatch to the forecastle. 


146 Curlie Carson Listens In 

Huh ! ’’ said Curlie, after a moment’s 
thought, ‘‘ I never could make out what girls 
are like. But one thing Fm sure of: that one 
will drown or starve or freeze when necessity 
demands it, without a murmur. You can count 
on her ! ” 

Throwing a swift glance to where a thick 
bank of clouds was painting the night sky the 
color of blue-black ink, he hurried below to 
consult with the skipper about the weather. 
They were, he concluded, some three hundred 
and fifty miles out to sea. If this storm meant 
grave dangers to them, what must it mean to 
two boys in a seaplane skimming through the 
air over the sea? He shivered at the thought. 

Fifteen minutes later, Curlie was in the small 
wireless cabin of the Kittlewake, With a re- 
ceiver clamped over his head, with a motor 
purring at his feet and with the hum of wires 
and coils all about him, he felt more at ease 
and at home than he had been for many hours. 

His talk with the skipper had confirmed his 
fears; they were in for a blow. 


The Coming Storm 147 

‘‘A nor’-easter, sir/’ he had affirmed, ‘‘ an’ 
one you’ll remember for many a day. Oh! 
we’ll weather ’er, sir; somehow we’ll ’ave to 
weather ’er. With the millionaire heiress 
aboard we’ll ’ave to, worse luck for it. We’ll 
’ammer down the ’atches an’ let ’er ride if we 
’ave to but it’s a jolly ’ard shaking habout we’ll 
get, sir. But she’s a ’arty, clean-hulled little 
boat, she is, an’ she’ll ride ’er some’ow.” 

After receiving this information, Curlie had 
gone directly to the wireless cabin. He was 
more anxious than he was willing to admit for 
the safety of his two charges, the millionaire’s 
children; for Curlie did think of them as his 
charges. He was used to taking burdens on 
his own shoulders. It had always been his 
way. 

Just now he was listening in on 600, ready 
to pick up any message which might come from 
the boys on the seaplane. That the Stormy 
Petrel was a doomed aircraft he had not the 
least doubt. The only question which remained 
in his mind was whether the Kittlewake or 


148 Curlie Carson Listens In 

some other craft would reach her in time to 
save the two reckless boys. 

Now and again as he listened he picked up 
a message from shore. The center of the storm, 
which was fast approaching, was to the east, 
off shore. Messages coming from the storm's 
direction would be greatly disturbed by static. 
But to the west the air was still clear. 

Now he heard a ship off Long Island Sound 
speaking for a pilot; now some shore station at 
Boston assigned to some ship a harbor space; 
and now some powerful broadcasting station 
sent out to all the world a warning against the 
rising storm. 

Tiring of all this, for a time he tuned his 
instrument to 200. 

Be interesting to see how far short wave 
lengths and high power will carry," was his 
mental comment. 

Now he caught a faint echo of a song; now 
a note of laughter; and now the serious tones 
of some man speaking with his homefolks. 

But what was this? He fancied he caught a 


The Coming Storm 149 

familiar whisper. Adjusting his wires, adding 
all the amplifying power his instruments pos- 
sessed, he listened eagerly ; then, to his astonish- 
ment heard his own nickname spoken. 

Hello, Curlie,’’ came to him distinctly. Then, 
'‘Are you there? You remember that big bad 
man, the one who used heaps of power on 1200? 
Well, he’s gone north — very far north. You’d 
want to follow him, Curlie, if you knew what 
I know. The radiophone is going to do great 
things for the north, Curlie. But men like him 
will spoil it all. Remember this, Curlie: If you 
do go, be careful. Careful. He’s a bad man 
and the stakes are big ! ” The whisper ceased. 
The silence that follov^ed it was ghostly. 

"And that,” Curlie whispered softly, "came 
all the way from my deax* old home town. She 
thought I was still in the secret tower room. 
Fine chance of my following that fellow up 
north. But when I get back I’ll investigate. 
There may be something big there, just as she 
says there is. Yes, I’ll look into it when I get 
back — if I do get back.” 


150 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


He shivered as he caught the howl of the 
wind in the rigging. Then, tuning his instru- 
ment back to 600, he listened once more for 
some message from the seaplane, the Stormy 
Petrel. 


CHAPTER XV 
S. O. S. 

The spot of light which raced across the 
waters of the sea where no land was to be seen, 
where the black surface of the swiftly changing 
waters shone always beneath the occupants of 
the seaplane, took on an ever widening circle. 
There appeared to be no end to Alfred Bright- 
wood’s belief that somewhere in the midst of all 
this waste of waters there was an island. 

Vincent Ardmore had long since given up 
hope of becoming rich by this mad adventure. 
His only hope, the one that gave strength to 
his arms benumbed by long clinging to the 
flashlight and new sight to his eyes, weary with 
watching, was that they might discover some 
bit of land, a coral island, perhaps, where they 
might find refuge from the sea until a craft, 
called to their aid, might rescue them. 

151 


152 Curlie Carson Listens In 

The thought of returning to the mainland 
he had all but abandoned. The gas in the tank 
was too low for that: at least he was quite cer- 
tain it must be. 

There was a chance, of course, that if they 
alighted upon the water and sent out an S. O. S., 
the international call for aid, they would be 
answered by some near-by ship. But this seemed 
only a remote possibility. He dared not hope 
it would happen. They were far from any 
regular course of trans-Atlantic vessels and 
too far from shore to be picked up by a coast 
vessel or a fishing smack. The very fact that 
this island, marked so plainly on the ancient 
map, had been in this particular spot, so remote 
from the main sea-roads, had strengthened 
their belief that during all the centuries of travel 
it had been lost from man’s memory and hidden 
from his view. Now this very isolation, since 
they were unable to locate this island, if indeed 
it existed at all, threatened to be their undoing. 

Still they circled and circled with great, un- 
tiring sweeps. At last, releasing the search- 


8 . 0 , 8 . 


153 


light, Vincent put his lips to a speaking tube. 

‘‘ Let’s light,” he grumbled. I’m dead. 
What’s the use ? ” 

^‘What else can we do but keep looking?” 
Alfred answered. 

Take a look at the gas. Maybe it will 
carry us back.” 

Even as he spoke, a strange thing happened. 
The air appeared suddenly to have dropped 
from beneath the plane. Straight down for 
fifty feet she dropped. 

With the utmost difficulty Alfred succeeded 
in preventing her from taking a nose dive into 
the sea. 

^'She — she bumped,” he managed to pant at 
last. Something the matter with the air.” 

And indeed there was something about the 
atmospheric conditions which they had not 
sensed. Busy as they had been they had not 
seen the black bank of clouds to the northeast 
of them. With the wild rush of air from sheer 
speed, they had not felt the increasing strength 
of the gale. Once Vincent had fancied that 


154 Curlie Carson Listens In 

the sea, far beneath them, seemed disturbed, 
but so far beneath them was it that he could 
not tell. 

Now in surprise and consternation, as if to 
steady his reeling brain, he gripped the fuselage 
beside him while he shrilled into the tube: 

‘‘ Look ! Look over there ! Lightning ! ’’ 

‘‘ Watch out, Fm going down,’’ warned the 
other boy. Going to light.” 

To do this was no easy task. Three times 
they swooped low, to skim along just over the 
crest of the waves, only to tilt upward again. 

Looks bad,” grumbled the young pilot. 

The fourth time, he dared it. With the 
spray spattering his goggles, he sent the plane 
right into the midst of it. For a second it 
seemed that nothing could save them, that the 
wave they had nose-dived into would throw 
their plane end for end and land her on her 
back, with her two occupants hopeless prisoners 
strapped head down to drown beneath her. 

But at last the powerful motors conquered 
and, tossed by the ever increasing swells, the 


S. 0 . 8. 


155 


plane rode the sea like the stormy petrel after 
which she had been named. 

Quick! exclaimed Alfred as the motors 
ceased to throb. Strip off your harness and 
get back to the tank.” 

A moment later Vincent was making a 
perilous journey to the gas tank. Twice the 
wind all but swept him into the sea; once a 
wave drenched him with its chilling waters. 
When at last he reached his destination it was 
only to utter a groan; more gas had been used 
than he had dared think. 

Can’t — can’t make it,” he mumbled as he 
struggled back to his place. 

Have to send out an S. O. S. then. What 
wave length do you use?” 

You ought to know,” exclaimed Vincent al- 
most savagely. ‘‘ You were the one who in- 
sisted on using it when we were making up 
our plans.” 

‘"Six hundred? Oh, yes,” Alfred said in- 
differently. “Well, what of it?” 

“ Just this much of it,” said Vincent thought- 


156 Curlie Carson Listens In 

fully. IVe been going over and over it in 
my mind the last little while. What if we send 
out our S. O. S. now and some selfish landlubber 
such as we were is talking about matters of 
little importance and muddles our message? 
We might be left to drown.'" 

''Aw, can that sob stuff,” grumbled Alfred 
angrily. "Are you going to send that S. O. S. 
or am I?” 

" I will,” said Vincent, preparing to climb to 
a position on the plane above him where the 
radiophone was located. " But ” — he suddenly 
began to sway dizzily — " but where are we ? ” 

He sank back into his seat. For a full mo- 
ment, with the waves tossing the plane about 
and the black clouds mounting higher and 
higher, the two boys stared at one another in 
silence. Yes, where were they? Who could 
tell? They were not trained mariners. They 
could not have taken a reckoning even had they 
been in possession of the needed instruments. 

"Why,” said Alfred hesitatingly, "we must 
be somewhere near that spot where the island 


S. 0, s. 


157 


was supposed to be located. That's as near as 
we can come to it. Send out that latitude and 
longitude; then we'll climb back into the air. 
We'il be safer there than on the water and 
we can keep the searchlight shooting out flashes 
in all directions. A ship coming to our aid 
will see the light." 

If they come," Vincent whispered. 

‘‘ Hurry! " exclaimed Alfred, as a giant wave, 
rising above its mates, threatened to tear their 
plane into shreds. 

With benumbed and trembling fingers the 
boy unwrapped his instruments, adjusted a coil, 
twisted a knob and threw in his switch. Then 
his heart stood still. The motor did not start. 
Had it been dampened and short-circuited? 
Would it refuse to go? Were they already lost? 

Just as he was giving up in despair, there 
came a humming sound and a moment later the 
well-known signal of distress had been flashed 
out across the waves. Three times he repeated 
it. Three times in a few sharp words he told 
their general location and their plight. Then 


158 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


with wildly beating heart, he pressed the re- 
ceivers to his ears and awaited a reply. 

A moment passed, two, three, four; but there 
came no answering call. Only the buzz and 
snap of the ever-increasing static greeted his 
straining ears. 

Once more he sent out the message; again 
he listened. Still no response. 

‘‘ C’m’on,’’ came from the boy below. ‘‘ It’s 
getting dangerous. You can get a message off 
in the air. Gotta get out o’ here. Gotta climb. 
May not be able to make it even now.” 

As the other boy glanced down at the white- 
capped waves all about them he realized that 
his companion spoke the truth. 

Hurriedly rewrapping his instruments, all 
but the receivers, which by the aid of an ex- 
tension he brought down with him, he made 
his way to his seat and strapped on his harness. 

'‘All right,” he breathed. 

Once more the motors thundered. For a 
long distance they raced through blinding spray. 
Little by little this diminished until with a 


S. 0. s. 


159 


swoop, like a sea gull, the magnificent plane 
shot upward. The next instant they felt a 
dash of cold rain upon their cheeks. Was the 
storm upon them? Or was this merely a 
warning dash which had reached them far in 
advance of the deluge? For the moment they 
could not tell. 


CHAPTER XVI 
A CONFESSION 

For an hour Curlie Carson had been seated 
in the radiophone cabin of the Kittlewake. 
During that time his delicately adjusted ampli- 
fier and his wonderful ears had enabled him to 
pick up many weird and unusual messages. 
Listening in at sea before a great storm is like 
wandering on the beach after that same storm; 
you never can tell what you may pick up. But 
though fragments of many messages had come 
to him, not one of any importance to the Kittle- 
zvake had reached his ears. If during that 
time any message from the Stormy Petrel had 
been sent out, it had been lost in the crash 
and snap of static which now kept up a con- 
stant din in his ears. 

Again doubt assailed him. He had no posi- 
tive knowledge that the boys in the plane had 
gone in search of that mysterious island of the 
160 


161 


A Confession 

old chart. They might, for all he knew, be 
at this moment enjoying a rich feast on some 
island oif the coast of America. 

Cuba, for instance,’’ he told himself. “ Not 
at all impossible. Short trip for such a sea- 
plane.” 

‘‘And here,” he grumbled angrily to himself, 
“here I am risking my own life and the life 
of my companions and crew, inviting death to 
all these, and this on a mere conjecture. Guess 
I’m a fool.” 

The gale was rising every moment. Even as 
he spoke the prow of the boat reared in air, 
to come down with such an impact as made one 
believe she had stepped on something solid. 

Just when Curlie’s patience with himself and 
all the rest of the world was exhausted, Joe 
Marion opened the door. The wind, boosting 
him across the threshold, slammed the door 
after him. 

“ Whew ! he sputtered. “ Going to be rotten. 
Tell you what, I don’t like it. Dangerous, I’d 
say!” 


162 Curlie Carson Listens In 

“ Nothing’s dangerous,” smiled Curlie, greatly 
pleased to see that someone at least was more 
disturbed than himself. Nothing’s really dan- 
gerous since the invention of the radiophone. 
Ocean, desert, Arctic wilderness; it’s all the 
same. Sick, lost, shipwrecked? All you’ve got 
to do is keep your head clear and your radio- 
phone dry and tuned up. It’ll find you a way 
out.” 

Yes, but,” hesitated Joe, how the deuce you 
going to pack a radiophone outfit, all those coils, 
batteries and boxes, when you’re shipwrecked? 
How you going to keep ’em dry with the rain 
pelting you from above and the salt water beat- 
ing at you from below? Lot of sense to that! 
Huh ! ” he grunted contemptuously. “ That for 
your radiophone ! ” He snapped his finger. 
‘‘And that for your old sloppy ocean! Give me 
a square yard of good old terra firma and I’ll 
get along without all your modern inventions.” 

It can be done, though,” said Curlie thought- 
fully. 

‘‘ What can?” 


A Confession 163 

Radiophone kept dry after a wreck at sea/' 

‘‘How?" 

Curlie did not answer the question. Instead, 
he snapped the receiver from his head and 
handed it to Joe. 

“ Take this and listen in." He rose stiffly. 
“ This business is getting on my nerves. Fve 
got to get out for a breath of splendid fresh 
sea breeze." 

“Nerves?" said Joe incredulously. “You 
got nerves ? " 

“ Sometimes. Just now I have." 

On the deck Curlie experienced difficulty in 
walking. As he worked his way forward he 
found that one moment his legs were far too 
long and his foot came down with a suddenness 
that set his teeth chattering; the next moment 
his legs had grown suddenly short. It was like 
stepping down stairs in the dark and taking two 
steps at a time when you expected to take 
but one. 

“ Never saw such a rumpus on the sea," he 
grumbled. “ Going to be worse," he told him- 


164 Curlie Carson Listens In 

self as a chain of lightning, leaping across the 
sky, illumined the bank of black clouds that lay 
before them. “ Going to be lots worse.” 

Poking his head into the wheel-house, he bel- 
lowed above the storm: How’s she go? ” 

Seen worse’n ’er,” the skipper shouted 
back. 

Ought to be at the spot we started for 
in half an hour — that island on the old chart.” 

‘‘ Never was no island,” the skipper roared. 

‘‘ Maybe not.” 

Supposin’ we get there, what then? ” 

‘‘ Don’t know yet.” 

The skipper stared at Curlie for a full moment 
as if attempting to determine whether he were 
insane, then turned in silence to his wheel. 

The wind blew the door shut and Curlie re- 
sumed his long-legged, short-legged march. 

He had done three turns around the deck 
when his eyes caught a small figure crumpled 
up on the pile of ropes forward. 

Hello,” he cried, ‘'you out here? ” 

Gladys did not answer at once. She was 


165 


A Confession 

straining her eyes as if to see some object 
which might be hovering above the jagged, sea- 
swept skyline. 

‘‘ No,’’ said Curlie, as if in answer to a 
question, ‘‘you couldn’t see the plane. You 
couldn’t see it fifty fathoms away and then it 
would flash by you like a carrier pigeon. No 
use if you did see it. Couldn’t do anything. 
But there’s one chance in a million of their 
coming into our line of vision, so it’s no use 
watching. Only chance is a radiophone mes- 
sage giving their location.” 

“ But I — I want to. I — I ought to do 
something.” For the first time he noticed how 
white and drawn her face was. 

“All right,” he said in a quiet voice, “you 
just sit where you are and I’ll sit here beside 
you and you tell me one or two things. That 
will help.” 

“Tell — tell what?” 

“Tell me this: Did your brother have the 
original of that old map? ” 

“ Yes,” her tone was already quieting down. 


166 Curlie Carson Listens In 

‘^yes, he did, or Alfred Brightwood did. His 
father is very rich and he has a hobby of col- 
lecting very old editions of books. He pays 
terrible prices for them. He bought an old, 
old copy of ‘Marco Polo’s Travels’; paid fifteen 
thousand dollars for it. And inside its cover 
Alfred found that old map with the curious 
writing on the back of it. 

“ He thought right away that it might hide 
some great secret, so he had it photographed 
and sent the photo to Vincent. Vincent got a 
great scholar to read the writing for him. He 
never told me what the writing was; said that 
no one but he and Alfred should know; that it 
was a great secret and that girls couldn’t keep 
secrets, so I was not to know. 

“ But they can keep secrets ! ” she exploded, 
breaking off from her narrative. ^‘They do 
keep secrets — more secrets than boys do. 
Wonderful and terrible secrets sometimes ! ” 

“All right,” smiled Curlie, “ I agree with you, 
absolutely, but what did they do then?” 

“ Well,” the girl pressed her temples as if to 


167 


A Confession 

drive the thoughts of the present from her. 

They — why then Alfred called Vincent by 
radiophone on 600. Vincent was terribly afraid 
to answer on 600, but he did. And then, be- 
cause he thought the discovery of the map was 
so awfully important, he rigged up a radiophone 
on his auto and I — I ’’ — she buried her face in 
her hands — ‘‘I helped him. I was with him 
in the car ; drove while he sent the messages, all 
but that last night, when the car was wrecked. 

‘‘I — I know I shouldn’t have done it. I knew 
all the time it was wrong, but Alfred was stub- 
born and wouldn’t talk on anything but 600 — 
said he had as much right on 600 as anyone 
else — so we did it.” 

''And then the car was wrecked?” suggested 
Curlie. He felt a trifle mean about making the 
girl tell, but he knew she would be more com- 
fortable once she got it out of her system. Peo- 
ple are that way. 

^ " Yes,” she said, " someone shot his tire and 
wrecked his machine. I found the car, first 
thing in the morning, and when I saw Vincent 


168 Curlie Carson Listens In 

wasn’t there I got two big packing baskets that 
we once used in the Rockies and put them on 
my horse. Then I went back and got all that 
radio stuff and took it home and hid it. Do 
you think I did wrong? ” The eyes she turned 
to his were appealing ones. 

Maybe you did,” said Curlie huskily,” but 
that doesn’t matter now; you’re paying for it 
all right — going to pay for it in full before 
this voyage is over. The thing you must try to 
think of now is the present, the little round 
present that is right here now. And you must 
try to be brave.” 

"^And — and” — she said in a faltering 
voice — do you think Vincent is paying for 
what he did?” 

I shouldn’t be surprised.” 

“Then you won’t have to arrest him if he’s 
already punished?” The appealing eyes were 
again upon him. 

At that moment Curlie did a strange thing, 
so strange that the words sounded preposterous 
to his own ears: 


A Confession 


169 


“ No,” he said slowly, I won’t, unless — 
unless he asks me to.” 

‘‘ Oh ! ” she breathed, thank you.” She 
placed her icy-cold hand on his for a second. 

‘‘You’re freezing!” he exclaimed suddenly. 
“ You’ll be making yourself sick. You must 
get inside ! ” 

“ I’ll go to the lounging cabin in mid-deck. 
The forecastle is so — so lonesome,” she stam- 
mered. “ If you need me, you’ll find me there.” 

Feeling her way along the rail, she disap- 
peared into the darkness. 

At almost the same moment there came the 
bellowing sound of a voice that could be heard 
above the roar of the storm: 

“ Curlie ! Curlie ! Come here ! Something 
coming in. Can’t make it out! ” 

It was Joe Marion. Stumbling aft, now 
banging his feet down hard and now treading on 
empty air, Curlie made his way to the radio- 
phone cabin. 


CHAPTER XVII 

A BLINDING FLASH OF LIGHT 

It’s an S. O. S.,” screamed Joe at the 
top of his voice, as Curlie came hurrying up. 
‘‘ They sent that much in code and I got it 
all right. Then they tried to tell me their 
troubles and all I got was a mumble and 
grumble mixed with static, which meant nothing 
at all to me. Repeated it three times. Very 
little space in between. Should have called you, 
I guess, but there really wasn’t time; besides 
I kept thinking I’d start getting what he sent.” 

‘^Where’d it come from?” Curlie asked as 
he snapped the receiver over his head. 

‘‘Straight out of the storm. Fifty or sixty 
miles northeast.” 

Curlie groaned. “That’s what I get for 
being impatient. Ought to have stayed right 
here. It’s those boys all right and we’ve missed 
them; may never pick them up again.” 

170 


A Blinding Flash of Light 171 

For a time there was silence in the wireless 
cabin, such a silence as one experiences in the 
midst of a rising storm. The flap of ropes, 
the creak of yard-arms, the rush of waves which 
were already washing the deck, the chug-chug- 
chug of the prow of the brave little craft as 
she leaped from wave-crest to wave-crest; all 
this made such music as an orchestra might, 
had every man musician of them gone mad. 
And this was the silence ” Curlie did not for 
a long time break. 

'' Well ! he shouted at last, that settles 
one thing. I was right. They did go in search 
of that mythical island.’’ 

‘‘ You can’t be sure,” said Joe. ‘‘ Might have 
been a fishing boat led off her course by a 
chase after a whale. You never can tell.” 

No, that’s right,” Curlie agreed. 

What makes you so sure the island on that 
map is mythical?” asked Joe. 

Doesn’t sound reasonable.” 

‘‘Lots of things don’t. Take the radiophone; 
it wouldn’t have sounded reasonable a few years 


172 Curlie Carson Listens In 

ago. Lot of new things wouldn’t. A new island 
is discovered somewhere about every year. Why 
not around here? ” 

^^A.nyway, I don’t believe it,” shouted Curlie. 

Yet, after all, as he thought of it now he 
found himself hoping against hope that there 
was some such island. It wasn’t the gold he 
was thinking of, but a haven of refuge. This 
storm was going to be a bad one. He fancied 
it was going to be one of the worst experienced 
on the Atlantic for years. If only there were 
somewhere a sheltered nook into which this 
cockleshell of a craft they were riding on might 
be driven, it would bring him great relief. He 
thought a little of Joe, of the skipper and the 
engineer, but he thought a great deal about the 
girl. 

No place for a girl,” he mumbled. “ Per- 
haps,” he tried to tell himself, there is an 
island, a very small island overlooked for cen- 
turies by navigators; perhaps those boys have 
found it. Perhaps they were merely sending 
out an S. O. S. to get someone to bring them 


A Blinding Flash of Light 173 

gas to carry them home. But rat ! he exploded, 
I don’t believe it. Don’t — ” 

He cut himself short to press the receivers 
tight against his ears. He was getting some- 
thing. Quickly he manipulated the coil of his 
radio compass. Yes, it was an S. O. S. ! And, 
yes, it was coming directly out of the storm. 
But what was this they were saying? ‘‘Two 
boys — ” He got that much, but what was 
that? Strain his ears as he might, he could 
not catch another word. 

But now — now he believed he was about to 
get it. Moving the coil backward and forward 
he strained every muscle in his face in a mad 
effort to understand. Yes, yes, that was it! 
Then, just as he was getting it a terrible thing 
happened. There came a blinding flash of light, 
accompanied by a rending, tearing, deafening 
crash. He felt himself seized by some invisible 
power which wrenched every muscle, twisted 
every joint in his body, then flung him limp and 
motionless to the floor. 

When he came to himself, Joe and the girl 


174 Curlie Carson Listens In 

were bending over him. Joe was tearing at the 
buttons of his shirt. The girl was rocking back- 
ward and forward. All but overcome with ex- 
citement, she was still attempting to chafe his 
right hand. When she saw him open his eyes 
she uttered a little cry, then toppled over in a 
dead faint. 

Wha — what happened? ’’ Curlie's lips 
framed the words. 

“ Lightning,’' shouted Joe. Protectors must 
have got damp. Short-circuited. Raised hob. 
Burned out about everything, I guess.” 

Can’t be as bad as that. Tend to the girl,” 
Curlie nodded toward the corner. 

Joe ducked out of the cabin, to appear a 
moment later with a cold, damp cloth. This 
he spread over the girl’s forehead. A moment 
later she sat up and looked about her. 

Curlie was sitting up also. He was rubbing 
his head. When he saw the girl looking at him 
he laughed and sang: 

‘‘ Oh, a sailor’s life is a merry life. 

And it’s a sailor’s life for me. 


A Blinding Flash of Light 175 

‘‘ But say ! ’’ he exclaimed suddenly, ‘‘ what 
was I doing when things went to pieces? ’’ 

Joe nodded toward the radiophone desk where 
coils and instruments lay piled in tangled con- 
fusion. 

'' You were getting a message from out the 
storm.’’ 

‘‘ Oh yes, and they gave me their location. 
It was — no, I haven’t it. Lightning drove it 
right out of my head. Let me think. Let me 
concentrate.” 

For a full moment there was silence, the 
silence of the raging sea. Then Curlie shook 
his head sadly. 

No, I can’t remember,” his lips framed the 
words. It was unnecessary that he shout them 
aloud. 

Oh ! ” exclaimed the girl, and for a moment 
it seemed that she would faint again. But she 
controlled herself bravely. 

We’ll find them yet,” she forced a brave 
smile. '' It’s a comfort just to know they’re still 
alive, that they’re near us, at least not too far 


176 Curlie Carson Listens In 

away for us to save them if we can only find 
them/’ 

Again there was silence. Then Curlie rose 
unsteadily to his feet. 

“ Give us a hand here, Joe, old scout,” he 
said. We’ll get this thing back in shape. 
There are extra vacuum tubes, tuning coils and 
the like, and plenty of all kinds of wire. We’ll 
manage it somehow — got to.” 

The girl rose, to sink upon a seat in the 
corner. 

'' That’s right,” shouted Curlie. ''You stay 
right here. We’ll be company for each other. 
Fellow needs company on a night like this. Be- 
sides, I’ve got something to say, a lot to say, 
to you and Joe as soon as the radiophone is 
tuned up again. Got to say it before I get 
killed again,” he chuckled. 


CHAPTER XVIII 

THE STORMY PETREL GETS 
AN ANSWER 

The dash of rain which beat like a volley of 
lead upon the fuselage of the seaplane as she 
rose above the spray lasted but a moment. 

Just a warning of whaPs to come/’ Vincent 
called through the tube. ‘‘ Think we could run 
away from the storm?” 

We’d just get lost on the ocean and not 
know what location to radiophone,” grumbled 
his companion. ‘‘ Better keep circling. We can 
get above the storm if we must.” 

Once more the weary circle was commenced. 
With little hope of sighting land, Vincent still 
fixed his gaze upon the black waters below, while 
he sent the flash of light, now far to the right, 
now to the left, and now straight beneath them. 

Someone must have caught our S. O. S.” 

177 


178 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


he told himself. We ought to get sight of their 
lights pretty soon. But then/’ his hopes grew 
faint, “not many ships in these seas. Might 
not have heard us. Might not be able to reach 
us. Might — ” 

He broke off abruptly. A blinding flash of 
lightning had illumined the waters for miles in 
every direction. In that flash his eyes had 
seen something; at least, he thought they had; 
some craft away to the left of them; a craft 
which reminded him of one he had sailed upon 
many a time; his father’s yacht, the Kittlewake, 

“ But of course it couldn’t be,” he told him- 
self. “ Nobody’d be crazy enough to — ” 

A second flash illumined the water, but this 
time, strain his eyes as he might, he caught no 
glimpse of craft of any sort. 

“ Must have dreamed it,” he muttered. He 
closed his eyes for a second and in that second 
saw his sister Gladys clearly mirrored on his 
mind’s vision. She was staggering down a 
pitching deck. 

“ Huh ! ” he muttered, shaking himself vio- 


The Stormy Petrel Gets an Answer 179 

lently, this business is getting my goat. I’ll 
be delirious if I don’t watch out.” 

Again he fixed his gaze upon the spot of light 
as it traveled over the water. 

He had kept steadily at the task for fifteen 
minutes, was wondering how much longer the 
gas would hold out, wondering, too, whether the 
storm was ever going to break, when he caught 
the pilot’s signal in the tube. 

‘‘How about trying another message?” his 
companion called. 

“Up here?” he asked in dismay. 

“ I know — awful dangerous. But we’ve got 
to risk something. Lost if we don’t.” 

“All right. I’ll try.” He began cautiously to 
unbuckle his harness. 

Scarcely had he loosened two of the three 
straps which held him in place when the plane 
gave a sudden lurch. Having struck a pocket, 
it dropped like an elevator cage released from 
its cable, straight down. 

“ Oh — ah ! ” he exclaimed as he caught at a 
rod just in time to escape being hurled away. 


180 Curlie Carson Listens In 

Got to be careful/' he told himself, awful 
careful! Have to hold on with one hand while 
I work with the other. Feet’ll help too.” 

When the plane had settled again, he loosened 
the last strap, then began with the utmost cau- 
tion to drag himself to the surface of the plane 
above him. 

Once a vivid flash of lightning showed him 
the dizzy depths beneath him. He was at that 
moment clinging to a rod with both hands. His 
legs were twined about a second. Thus he hung 
suspended out over two thousand feet of air and 
as many fathoms of water. 

For a moment a dizzy sickness overcame him, 
but this passed away. Again he struggled to 
gain the platform above. This time he was suc- 
cessful. 

Even here he did not abandon caution. The 
straps were still about his waist. One of these 
he fastened to a rod. Then with one hand he 
clung to the framework before him, while with 
the other he worked at the task of adjusting 
instruments. 


The Stormy Petrel Gets an Answer 181 

‘‘ Slow business/' he murmured. Maybe it 
won’t work when I get through. Maybe too 
damp. Maybe it — ” 

Suddenly he found himself floating in air, 
like the tail of a kite. Only the strap and his 
viselike grip saved him. The plane had struck 
another pocket. 

He was at last thrown back upon the plat- 
form with such force as dashed the air from 
his lungs and a large part of his senses from 
his brain. 

After a moment of mental struggle he re- 
sumed his task. He worked feverishly now. 
The fear that he might be seriously injured be- 
fore he had completed it had seized him. 

Now,” he breathed at last, now we’ll see! ” 

His hand touched a switch. The motor 
buzzed. 

^‘Ah ! She works ! She works ! ” he exulted. 

Then with trembling fingers he sent out the 
signal of distress. He followed this with their 
location, also in code. Three times he repeated 
the message. Then snapping on his receiver, 


182 Curlie Carson Listens In 

he strained his ear to listen. 

‘^A.h! — ’’ his lips parted. He was getting 
something. Was it an answer? He could 
scarcely believe his ears. Yet it came distinctly: 

Yacht Kittlewake, Curlie — ’’ 

Just at that moment the plane gave a sicken- 
ing swerve. Caught off his balance, the boy was 
thrown clear off the platform. The receiver 
connection snapped. He hung suspended by the 
single strap. Madly his hands flew out to grasp 
at the pitching rods. Just in time he seized 
them; the strap had broken. 

With the agility of a squirrel he let himself 
down to his old place behind his companion. 
To buckle on the remaining straps was the 
work of a moment. Then, in utter exhaustion 
and despair, he allowed his head to sink upon his 
chest. 

‘'And I was getting — getting an answer,” he 
gasped. 

His companion had .seen nothing of his fall. 
Glancing behind him for a second, he saw 
Vincent in his seat in the fuselage. 


The Stormy Petrel Gets an Answer 183 

‘‘ What'd you come down for? ’’ 

‘‘ Got shaken down.” 

“ Get anything? ” 

‘‘ Was getting. Queer thing that ! Got the 
name of my father’s yacht and the word 
‘ Curly.’ Then the plane lurched and spilled me 
off. Jerked the receiver off too. Queer about 
that message! Thought I saw the Kittlewake 
on the sea a while ago, but then I thought it 
couldn’t be — thought I was getting delirious 
or something.” 

‘‘ Going back up? ” 

‘‘I — I’ll — In a moment or two I’ll try.” 

A few moments later he did try, but it was no 
use. His nerve was gone. His knees trembled 
so he could scarcely stand. His hands shook as 
with the palsy. It is a terrible thing for a 
climber to lose his nerve while in the air. 

No use,” he told himself. ‘T’d only get 
shaken off again and next time I’d be out of 
luck. Shame too, just when I was getting 
things.” 

Again he caught his companion’s call. 


184 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


“ Storm’s almost here ! Guess we’ll have to 
climb.” 

Even as he spoke, there came a flash of 
lightning which revealed a solid black bank of 
clouds which seemed a wall of ebony. It was 
moving rapidly toward them; was all but upon 
them. 

‘'Better climb; climb quick,” he breathed 
through the tube. 


CHAPTER XIX 
THE MAP’S SECRET 

While all these things were happening to 
the boys on the seaplane, Curlie Carson and 
Joe Marion were working hard to repair the 
damage done to their radiophone set by the 
lightning. With the boat pitching about as it 
was, and with the wind and waves keeping up 
a constant din, it was a difficult task. 

Just what coils and instruments had been 
burned out it was difficult to tell. All these 
must be tested out by the aid of a storage 
battery. When the defective parts had been dis- 
carded, it was necessary to piece together, out 
of the remaining parts and the extra equipment, 
an entirely new set. 

Have to use a two-stage amplifier,” shouted 
Curlie, making himself heard above the storm. 

‘‘ Lower voltage on the grid, too,” Joe shouted 
back. 


185 


186 Curlie Carson Listens In 

'' Guess it'll be fairly good, though," said 
Curlie, working feverishly. Only hope it 
didn't burn out the insulation on our aerials. 
Want to get her going again quick. Want to 
bad. Lot may depend on that." 

The insulation on the aerials was not burned 
out. After many minutes of nerve-racking 
labor they had the equipment together again 
and were ready to listen in. 

Curlie flashed a short message in code, giv- 
ing the name of their boat and its present loca- 
tion, then, with the receiver tightly clamped 
over his ears, he settled back in his chair. 

For some time they saf there in silence, the 
two boys and Gladys Ardmore. 

The beat of the waves was increasing. The 
wind was still rising, but as yet no rain was 
falling. 

Queer storm," shouted Joe. Haven’t 
gotten into it yet. Will though and it's going to 
be bad. Skipper says the only thing we can do 
is to fasten down all the hatches and hold her 
nose to the storm." 


The Map^s Secret 187 

Better see about the hatches/’ shouted 
Curlie. 

Throwing open the door, letting in a dash of 
salt spray and a cold rush of wind as he did 
so, Joe disappeared into the dark. 

Curlie and the girl were alone. The seat the 
girl occupied was clamped solidly to the wall. 
It had broad, strong arms and to these she 
clung. She was staring at the floor and seemed 
half asleep. 

When Joe disappeared, Curlie once more be- 
came conscious of her presence and at once he 
was disturbed. Who would not have been dis- 
turbed at the thought of a delicate girl, accus- 
tomed to every luxury, being thrown into such 
desperate circumstances as they were in at the 
present moment. 

“ Not my fault,” he grumbled to himself. ‘‘ I 
didn’t want her to go. Wouldn’t have allowed 
her, either, had I known about it.” 

Not your fault? ” his inner self chided him. 
'‘Suppose you didn’t plan this trip?” 

" Well, anyway,” he grumbled, " she needn’t 


188 Curlie Carson Listens In 

have come along, and, besides, circumstances 
have justified my theories. They are out here 
somewhere, those two boys, and since they are 
it's up to someone to try to save them." 

Then suddenly he remembered that he had 
something to say to the girl. He opened his 
mouth to shout to her, but closed it again. 

Better wait till Joe comes," he told himself. 

The more people there are to hear it, the more 
chances there are of its getting back to shore." 

Joe blew back into the cabin a few moments 
later. 

Everything all right ? " Curlie shouted. 

At the sound of his voice, the girl started, 
looked up, then smiled ; Joe nodded his head. 

Say, Joe, Tm hungry," shouted Curlie. 
“ There's bread in the forward cabin and some 
milk in a thermos bottle. Couldn't manage 
coffee, but toast and milk'd be fine." 

The girl sprang to her feet as if to go for 
the required articles, but Joe pushed her back 
into her chair. 


The Ma/p*s Secret 189 

‘‘ Not for you/’ he shouted. It’s gettin’ 
dangerous.” 

‘‘ Joe,” said Curlie, ‘‘there’s a small electric 
toaster there in the cabin. Disconnect it and 
bring it in here. We’ll connect it up and make 
the toast right here.” 

When the toaster had been connected, the 
girl, happy in the knowledge that she was able 
to be of service, toasted the bread to a brown 
quite as delicate as that to be found on a land- 
lubber’s table. 

“ Now,” said Curlie as they sat enjoying this 
meager repast, “I’ve got something to tell you, 
something that I want someone else beside me 
to know. It’s going to be an ugly storm and 
the Kittlezvake is no trans-Atlantic liner. We 
may all get back to shore. We may not. If 
one of you do and I don’t, I want you to tell this. 
It — it will sort of justify my apparent rash- 
ness in dragging you off on this wild trip.” 

He moved his chair close to the stationary 
seat of the girl and, gripping one of the arms 
of the seat, motioned Joe to move up beside 


190 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


them. It was only thus that he might be heard 
unless he were to shout at the top of his voice. 

‘‘You know,” he said, a strange smile play- 
ing over his thin lips, “ you folks probably have 
thought it strange that I should go rushing off 
on a trip like this without any positive knowl- 
edge that those two boys had started for that 
mysterious island shown on the map and spoken 
of in the writing on the back of the map, but 
you see I had more information than you 
thought. This I know for an almost positive 
fact,” he leaned forward impressively : “ The 
mysterious island of the chart does not exist.” 

“ Oh ! ” the girl started back. 

“ If s a fact,” said Curlie, “ and Fll give you 
my proof.” 

He paused for a second. The girl leaned for- 
ward eagerly. Joe was all attention. 

“When I went into that big library,” he 
continued, “ I was determined to find all the 
truth regarding that map that was to be had 
there. While you were looking at those ancient 
maps,” he turned to Gladys, “ I went into a 


191 


The Map's Secret 

back room and there the lady in charge gave me 
some bound reproductions of ancient maps to 
look at and some things to read, among them 
a volume of the ‘ Scottish Geographic Magazine/ 
I read them through carefully and — ’’ 

Suddenly he started violently, then clasped 
the receivers close to his ears. 

Just a moment. Getting something,” he 
muttered. 

A second later he seized a pencil and marked 
down upon a pad a series of dots and dashes. 

Then, wheeling about, he put his fingers on 
a key to flash back an answer. 

'' It’s the boys,” he shouted. Got their loca- 
tion. Joe, decode what I wrote there, then 
go ask the skipper how much we’re off it.” 

He turned once more to click off his message, 
a repetition of the first one; then he shouted a 
second message into his transmitter. 

Joe Marion studied the pad for a moment, 
then rushed out of the cabin. 

All alert, Curlie sat listening for any further 
message which might reach him. Presently Joe 


192 Curlie Carson Listens In 

returned. There was a puzzled look upon his 
face. 

‘‘ Skipper says/’ he shouted, “ that the point 
you gave me is the exact location of the island 
shown on that ancient map and that we must 
be about ten knots to the north of it. When I 
told him that the boys were in a seaplane at 
that point, he suddenly became convinced that 
there must be an island out there somewhere 
and refused to change his course. 

‘ For,’ he says, ‘ if they’ve been sending 
messages from a plane in a gale like this they 
must be on the ground to do it and if on the 
ground, where but on an island? And if there’s 
an island, how are we going to get up to her 
in the storm that’s about to hit us. We’ll be 
piled on the rocks and smashed in pieces.’ That’s 
what he said; said we’d be much safer in the 
open sea.” 

Curlie stared at the floor. His mind was in 
a whirl. Here he had been about to furnish 
proof that the mysterious island did not exist 
and just at that instant there came floating in 


193 


The Ma/p’s Secret 

from the air proof of the island’s actual ex- 
istence, proof so strong that even a seasoned old 
salt believed it and refused to change his course. 
What was he to say to that! 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, he was to be 
given time enough to think about it, for at that 
moment, with an unbelievable violence the storm 
broke. 

As they felt the impact of it, it was as if the 
staunch little craft had run head on into one 
of those steel nets used during the war for 
trapping submarines. She struck it and from 
the very force of the blow, recoiled. The thing 
she had struck, however, was not a steel net 
but a mountain of waters flanked by such a 
volume of wind as is seldom seen on the 
Atlantic. 

‘‘ It’s the end of the Kittlewake'' thought 
Curlie. ‘‘ You take care of her,” he shouted in 
Joe’s ear, at the same time jerking his thumb 
at Gladys. The next second he disappeared 
into the storm. 


CHAPTER XX 
A SEA ABOVE A SEA 

When Alfred Brightwood had tilted the nose 
of the Stormy Petrel upward and away from 
the threatening bank of clouds she rose rapidly. 
A thousand, two thousand, three, four, five 
thousand feet she mounted to dizzy heights 
above the sea. 

As they mounted, the stars, swinging about 
in the sky, like incandescent bulbs strung on 
a wire, made their appearance here and there. 
They came out rapidly, by twos and threes, by 
scores and hundreds. In clusters and fantastic 
figures they swam about in the purple night. 

Almost instantly the sea disappeared from 
beneath them and in its place came a new sea; 
a sea of dark rushing clouds. Rising tw^o thou- 
sand feet above the level of the ocean, this mass 
of moisture hanging there in the sky took on 

194 


A Sea Above a Sea 


195 


the appearance of a second sea. As Vincent 
looked down upon it he found it easy to believe 
that were they to drop slowly down upon it, 
they would be seized upon and torn this way, 
then that by the violence of the storm that was 
even now raging beneath them, and that their 
plane would be cast at last, a shapeless mass, 
upon the real sea which was roaring and raging 
beneath it. 

‘‘ How wonderful nature is ! ” he breathed. 
“ It would be magnificent were it not so ter- 
rible.’’ 

He was thinking of the gasoline in their tank 
and he shuddered. Would it last until the storm 
had passed, or would they be obliged to volplane 
down into that seething tempest? ” 

He put his lips to the tube. ‘‘ You better use 
just enough gas to keep us afloat,” he suggested. 

Alfred muttered something like, Think I’m 
a fool ? ” Then for a long time, with the black 
sea of clouds rising and falling, billowing up like 
the walls of a mammoth tent, then sagging down 
to rise again, they circled and circled. They 


196 Curlie Carson Listens In 

were not circling now in search of adventure, to 
find some island which might bring them great 
wealth, but to preserve life. How long that 
circling could last, neither could tell. 

:|e ^ ^ ^ 

When Curlie Carson left the wireless cabin 
of the Kittlewake, he grasped a rail which ran 
along the cabin, just in time to prevent himself 
from being washed overboard by a giant wave. 
As it was, the water lifted his feet from the 
deck and, having lifted him as the wind lifts 
a flag, it waved him up and down three times, 
at last to send him crashing, knees down, on the 
deck. The wind was half knocked out of him, 
but he was still game. He did not attempt to 
regain the wireless cabin but fought his way 
along the side of that cabin toward his own 
stateroom door. 

Now a vivid flash of light revealed the water- 
washed deck. A coil of rope, all uncoiled by the 
waves, was wriggling like a serpent in the black 


sea. 


A Sea Above a Sea 


197 


No use to try to save it,” he mumbled. No 
good here, anyhow.” 

A yellow light, hanging above his stateroom 
door, dancing dizzily, appeared at one moment 
to take a plunge into the sea and at the next to 
dash away into the ink-black sky. 

Curlie was drenched to the skin. He was 
benumbed with the cold and shocked into half 
insensibility at the tremendous proportions of 
the storm. He wondered vaguely about the 
engineer below. Was the water getting at the 
engines? He still felt the throb of them beneath 
his feet. Well, that much was good anyway. 
And the skipper? Was he still at the wheel? 
Must be, for the yacht continued to take the 
waves head-on. 

vShort and light as she was, the craft appeared 
to leap from wave-crest to wave-crest. Now 
she missed the leap by a foot and the water 
drenched her deck anew. And now she over- 
stepped and came down with a solid impact that 
set her shuddering from stern to keel. 

Good old Kittle7vake/' he murmured, you 


198 Curlie Carson Listens In 

sure were built for rough service ! ” 

But now he had reached his stateroom door. 
With a lurch he threw open the door, with a 
second he fell through, a third slamimed it shut. 

One second his eyes roved about the place; 
the next his lips parted as something bumped 
against his foot. 

Stooping, he lifted up a long affair the size 
and shape of a round cedar fencepost. It was 
this he had brought aboard just before sailing. 
It had been shaken down and had been rolling 
about the floor. 

Having examined its wrapping carefully, he 
shook it once or twice. 

Guess you’re all right,” he muttered. '' And 
you had better be 1 A whole lot depends on you 
in a pinch.” 

His eyes roved about the room. At length, 
snatching a blanket from his berth, he tore it 
into strips. Then, throwing back his mattress, 
he placed the postlike affair beneath it and 
lashed it firmly to the springs. 

There ! ” he exclaimed with much satisf ac- 


A Sea Above a Sea 


199 


tion, '‘you’ll be safe until needed, if you are 
needed, and — and you never can tell.” 

The end of the seaplane’s last flirt with death 
and destruction came suddenly and without 
warning. Overcome as he was by constant 
watching, dead for sleep and famished for food, 
Vincent Ardmore had all but fallen asleep in 
his seat on the fuselage when a hoarse snort 
from one of the motors, followed quickly by a 
rattling grate from the other, startled him into 
complete wakefulness. 

The silence which followed these strange 
noises was appalling. It was like the lull before 
a hurricane. 

" Gas is gone,” said Alfred. There was fear 
and defiance in his tone, defiance of Nature 
which he believed had treated him badly 
“ Have to go down now.” 

" Go down ! ” Vincent shivered at the thought. 
Go down to what? 

He glanced below, then a ray of hope lighted 
his face. The storm was passing — had all but 


200 Curlie Carson Listens In 

passed. The clouds beneath them were no 
longer densely black. A mere mist, they hung 
like a veil over the sea. 

'' But the water ? ’’ His heart sank. “ It will 
still be raging.’’ 

The storm had not so far passed as he at 
first thought. The plane cut a circling path as 
she descended. Her wings were broad ; her drop 
was gradual. As they entered the first layer of 
clouds, she gave a lurch forward, but with won- 
derful control the young pilot righted her. 
Seconds passed, then again she tipped, this time 
more perilously. But again she was righted. 
Now she was caught in a little flurry of wind 
that set her spinning. A nose-dive seemed 
inevitable, but once more she came to position. 
Now, as they neared the surface of the sea, a 
wild, racing wind, the tail of the storm, seized 
them and hurled them headlong before it. In 
its grasp, there was no longer thought of con- 
trol. The only question now was how they 
would strike the water and when. The very 
rush of the wind tore the breath from Vincent’s 


A Sea Above a Sea 


201 


lungs. Crushed back against the fuselage, he 
awaited the end. Once, twice, three times they 
turned over in a mad whirl. Then, with a sud- 
den rending crash and a wild burst of spray, 
they struck. 

The plane had gone down on one wing. For 
a second she hung suspended there. Vincent 
caught his breath. If she went one way there 
was a chance; if the other, there was none. He 
thought of loosening his straps, but did not. So 
he hung there. Came a sudden crash. The 
right motor had torn from its lashings and 
plunged into the sea. 

The next second the plane settled to the left. 
Saved for a moment, the boy drew a deep 
breath. A second crash and the remaining 
motor was gone. During this crash the boy was 
completely submerged, but the buoyant plane 
brought him up again. Then, for a moment, 
he was free to think, to look about him. In- 
stinctively his eyes sought the place where his 
companion had been seated. It was empty. 
Alfred was gone. 


202 Curlie Carson Listens In 

Covering his eyes with his hands, he tried to 
tell himself it was not true. Then, suddenly 
uncovering them, he searched the surface of the 
troubled sea. Once he fancied he caught a 
glimpse of a white hand above a wave. He 
could not be sure; it might have been a speck 
of foam. Only one thing he could be sure of; 
his throbbing brain told it to him over and over : 
Alfred Brightwood, his friend, was gone — gone 
forever. The sea had swallowed him up. 


CHAPTER XXI 
THE BOATS ARE GONE 


When Curlie Carson had fastened the mys- 
terious post-shaped affair to the springs of his 
berth, he fought his way against wind, waves 
and darkness back to the radiophone cabin. 

‘‘Anything come in?'’ he asked as he shook 
the dampness from his clothing. 

“ Nothing I could make out," shouted Joe. 
“ Got something all jumbled up with static once 
but couldn't make it out." Rising, he took the 
receiver from his head and handed it to Curlie. 
Then, as the craft took a sudden plunge, he 
leaped for a seat. Missing it, he went sprawling 
upon the floor. 

In spite of the seriousness of their dilemma, 
the girl let forth a joyous peal of laughter. 
Joe's antics as he attempted to rise were too 
ridiculous for words. 


203 


204 Curlie Carson Listens In 

There was tonic for all of them in that 
laugh. They felt better because of it. 

Some moments after that, save for the wild 
beat of the storm, there was silence. Then, 
clapping the receivers to his ears, Curlie uttered 
an exclamation. He was getting something, or 
at least thought he was. Yes, now he did get 
it, a whisper. Faint, indistinct, mingled with 
static, yet audible enough, there came the four 
words : 

‘‘Hello there, Curlie! Hello!” 

At that moment the currents of electricity 
playing from cloud to cloud set up such a rattle 
and jangle of static that he heard no more. 

“ It's that girl in my old home town, in that 
big hotel,” he told himself. “To think that her 
whisper would carry over all those miles in such 
a gale! She's sending on 600. Wonder why? ” 

“ Ah, well,” he breathed, when nothing fur- 
ther had come in, “ I'll unravel that mystery in 
good time, providing we get out of this mess 
and get back to that home burg of ours. But 


now — 


The Boats Are Gone 


205 


Suddenly he started and stared. There had 
come a loud bump against the cabin ; then 
another and another. 

It’s the boats ! ” he shouted. “ They’ve torn 
loose. Should have known they would. Should 
have thought of that. Here ! ” He handed the 
receiver to Joe and once more dashed out into 
the storm. 

The Kittlezvake carried two lifeboats. As he 
struggled toward where they should have been, 
some object swinging past him barely missed 
his head. 

Instantly he dropped to the deck, at the same 
time gripping at the rail to save himself from 
being washed overboard. 

That,” he told himself, was a block swing- 
ing from a rope. The boat on this side is gone. 
Worse luck for that ! We — we might need ’em 
before we’re through with this.” 

Slowly he worked his way along the rail 
toward the stern. Now and again the waves 
that washed the deck lifted him up to slam him 
down again. 


206 Curlie Carson Listens In 

Quit that ! ’’ he muttered hoarsely. Can’t 
you let a fellow alone.” 

Arrived at last on the other side, he rose to 
his knees and tried to peer above him to the 
place where the second lifeboat should be swing- 
ing. A flash of lightning aided his vision. A 
groan escaped his lips. 

Gone ! ” he muttered. ‘‘ Should have 
thought of that! But,” he told himself, ‘‘ there’s 
still the raft I ” 

The raft, built of boards and gas-filled tubes, 
was lashed to the deck forward. Thither he 
made his difficult way. 

To his great relief, he found the raft still safe. 
Since it was thrashing about, he uncoiled a rope 
closely lashed to the side of a cabin and with 
tremendous effort succeeded in making the raft 
snug. 

There, now, you’ll remain with us for a 
spell,” he muttered. 

Clinging there for a moment, he appeared to 
debate some important question. 

‘‘ Guess I ought to do it,” he told himself at 


The Boats Are Gone 207 

last. “ And Fd better do it now. You never 
can tell what will happen next and if worst 
comes to worst it’s our only chance.” 

Fighting his way back to his cabin, he re- 
turned presently with the post-shaped affair 
which he had lashed to the springs of his berth. 

This he now lashed to the stout slats of wood 
and crossbars of metal on the raft. When he 
had finished it appeared to be part of the raft. 

There, my sweet baby,” he murmured, 

sleep here, rocked on the cradle of the deep, 
until your papa wants you. You’re a beautiful 
and wonderful child ! ” 

Then, weary, water-soaked, chilled to the 
bone, stupefied by the wild beat of the storm, 
aching in every muscle but not downhearted, he 
fought his way back to the radio cabin. 

Nature has been kind to man. She has so 
made him that he is incapable of feeling all the 
tragedy and sorrow of a terrible situation at 
the time when it bursts upon him. Vincent 
Ardmore, as he clung to the wrecked plane, with 


208 Curlie Carson Listens In 

his companion gone from him forever, did not 
sense the full horror of his position. He 
realized little more than the fact that he was 
chilled to the bone, and that the wind and waves 
were beating upon him unmercifully. 

Then, gradually there stole into his benumbed 
mind the thought that he might improve his 
position. The platform above him still stood 
clear of the waves. Could he but loosen the 
straps which bound him to the fuselage, could he 
but climb to that platform, he would at least be 
free for a time from the rude beating of the 
black waters which rolled over him incessantly. 

With the numbed, trembling fingers of one 
hand he struggled with the stubborn, water- 
soaked straps while with the other he clung to 
the rods of the rigging. To loosen his grip for 
an instant, once the straps were unfastened, 
meant almost certain death. 

After what seemed an eternity of time the 
last strap gave way and, with a wild pounding 
of his heart, he gripped the rods and began to 
climb. 


The Boats Are Gone 209 

As he tumbled upon the platform, new hope 
set the blood racing through his veins. 

There might yet be a chance,’’ he murmured, 
almost joyfully; ''the storm is breaking.” His 
eyes wandered to the fleeting clouds. " Dawn’s 
coming, too. I — I — why, I might send a mes- 
sage. The motor’s gone dead, of course, but 
there are still storage batteries. If only the 
insulations are good. If water has not soaked 
in anywhere ! ” 

With trembling fingers he tested the batteries. 
A bright flash of fire told him they were still 
alive. Then with infinite care he adjusted the 
instruments. At last he tapped a wire and a 
grating rattle went forth. 

" She’s still good,” he exulted. 

Then slowly, distinctly, he talked into the 
transmitter, talked as he might had he been sur- 
rounded by the cozy comforts of home. He 
gave his name, the name of his aircraft; told of 
his perilous position ; gave his approximate loca- 
tion and asked for aid. Only once his voice 
broke and fell to a whisper. That was when he 


210 Curlie Carson Listens In 

tried to tell of the sad fate of his companion. 

Having come to the end, he adjusted the re- 
ceiver to his ears and sat there listening. 

Suddenly his face grew tense with expecta- 
tion. He was getting something, an answer to 
his message. 

For a full moment he sat there tense, motion- 
less. Then, suddenly, without warning, a new 
catastrophe assailed him. A giant wave, leap- 
ing high, came crashing down upon the wreck- 
age of the plane. There followed a snapping 
and crashing of braces. When the wave had 
passed, the platform to which he clung floated 
upon the sea. His radiophone equipment was 
water-soaked, submerged. His storage batteries 
had toppled over to plunge into the sea. 

So there he clung, a single individual on a 
mass of wreckage, helpless and well-nigh hope- 
less in the midst of a vast ocean whose waves 
were even now subsiding after a terrific storm. 


CHAPTER XXII 

THE WRECK OF THE KITTLEWAKE 


‘‘ I’m getting a message ! ” exclaimed Cur lie 
excitedly. Getting it distinct and plain, and 
it’s — it’s from them.” 

‘‘.Oh, is it? ” the girl sprang from the seat. 

“ From your brother. They’ve been wrecked. 
They’re not on an island but on the sea. Safe, 
though, only — ” he paused to listen closely 
again — “I can’t just make out what he says 
about his companion.” 

“ Oh ! Please, please let me listen ! ” Gladys 
Ardmore gripped his arm. 

Quickly Curlie snatched the receiver from his 
head and pressed it down over her tangled mass 
of brown hair. 

She caught but a few words, then the voice 
broke suddenly off, but such words as they 
were ; such words of comfort. The voice of her 


211 


212 Curlie Carson Listens In 

only brother had come stealing across the storm 
to her, assuring her that he was still alive; that 
there was still a chance that he might be saved. 
She pressed the receivers to her ears in the 
hopes of hearing more. 

In the meantime Curlie was answering the 
message. In quiet, reassuring tones he gave 
their location and told of their purpose in those 
waters and ended with the assurance that if it 
were humanly possible the rescue should be 
accomplished. 

And we will save them,’’ he exclaimed. ‘‘At 
least we’ll save your brother.” 

“You don’t think — ” Gladys did not finish. 

“ I hardly know what to think about your 
brother’s chum,” Curlie said thoughtfully. “But 
this we do know: Your brother is clinging to 
the wreckage of a seaplane out there somewhere. 
And we will save him. See! the storm is about 
at an end and morning is near I ” He pointed 
to the window, where the first faint glow of 
dawn was showing. 

For a moment all were silent. Then sud- 


213 


The WrecTc of the Kittlewake 

denly, without warning, there came a grinding 
crash that sent a shudder through the Kittle- 
wake from stem to stern. 

‘‘What was that?” exclaimed Joe Marion, 
springing to his feet from the floor where he 
had been thrown. 

“We struck something!” Curlie was out 
upon the deck like a shot. 

He all but collided with the skipper, who had 
deserted his wheel. 

“ We ’it somethin’, ” shouted the skipper, 
“ an’ she’s sinkin’ by the larboard bow. Gotta’ 
git oif ’er quick. Boats are gone! Everythin’s 
gone.” 

“ No,” said Curlie calmly, “ the raft forward 
is safely lashed on.” 

The engineer appeared from below. The en- 
gine had already ceased its throbbing. 

“ She’s fillin’ fast,” he commented in a slow 
drawl. 

“ You two get the raft loose,” said Curlie. 
“ I’ll get the girl.” 

Dashing to his stateroom he seized two 


214 Curlie Carson Listens In 

blankets and a large section of oiled cloth. 
With these he dashed to the radio room. 

‘‘ Got to get out quick ! ’’ he exclaimed. 

Before she could realize what he was doing, 
he had seized the girl and had wrapped her 
round and round with the blankets, then with 
the oiled cloth. Joe had rushed out to help with 
the raft. Curlie carried the girl outside and, 
when the raft with the others aboard was afloat, 
handed her down to the skipper. 

'' Try and keep her dry,” he said calmly. 
'' We’ll all get soaked, but we can stand it for 
a long time; a girl can’t.” 

Now push oif!” he commanded. ‘‘ Get good 
and clear so that the wreck will not draw you 
down.” 

‘‘ You’ll come with us,” said the skipper 
sternly. Curlie had not intended going with 
them. He had meant to remain behind and send 
a call for aid, then to swim for the raft. But 
now, as he saw the water gaining on the stricken 
craft, he realized how dangerous and futile it 
would be. He was needed on the raft to help 


The Wreck of the Kittlemake 215 

get her away. Having seen all this at a flash 
he said: 

'' All right ; I’ll go.” Having dropped to the 
raft, and seized a short paddle, he joined Joe 
and the engineer in forcing the unwieldy raft 
away from the side of the doomed Kittlewake. 

They were none too soon, for scarcely two 
minutes could have elapsed when with a rush 
that nearly engulfed them the boat keeled up on 
end and sank from sight. 

And now,” said Joe addressing Curlie as he 
settled back to a seat on one of the gas-filled 
tubes, ‘‘you can test out what you said once 
about keeping your radiophone dry and tuned 
up under any and every circumstance. Suppose 
you tune her up now and get off an S. O. S.” 

There was a smile on the lips of the un- 
daunted young operator as he said with a drawl : 

“ Give me time, Joe, old scout, give me time.” 

The girl, staring out from her wrappings, 
appeared to fear that the two boys had gone 
delirious over this new catastrope. 

But only brave and hardy spirits can joke in 


216 Curlie Carson Listens In 

the midst of disaster, and as for Curlie, he really 
did have one more trick up his sleeve. 

As the old skipper sat staring away at the 
point where his craft had disappeared beneath 
the dark waters, he murmured: 

Twasn’t much we ht; fragment from an ice- 
berg ’er somethin’, but ’twas enough. An’ a 
good little craft she was too.” 

The storm had passed, but the waves were 
still rolling high. The raft tilted to such an 
angle that now they were all in danger of being 
pitched headforemost into the sea, and now in 
danger of falling backward into the trough 
of the waves. 

Soaked to the skin, shivering, miserable, the 
boys and men clung to the raft, while the girl 
bewailed the fact that she was not permitted to 
suffer with them. Wrapped as she was, and 
carefully guarded from the on-rush of the 
waves, she escaped all the miserable damp and 
chill of it. 

‘‘ Shows you’re a real sport,” Curlie’s lips, 
blue with cold, attempted a smile, ‘‘but you’ve 


The Wreck of the Kittlewake 217 

got to let us play the gentleman, even out 
here/’ 

When the waves had receded somewhat, 
Curlie began digging at one of the tubes beneath 
his feet. Having at length unfastened it, he 
stood it on end to unscrew some fastenings and 
lift off the top. 

“ Canisters of water and some emergency 
rations ! ” exclaimed Joe, as he peered inside. 
“Great stuff!” 

They had taken a swallow of water apiece and 
were preparing to munch some hardtack and 
chocolate when Gladys exclaimed: 

“Look over there. What’s that?” 

“ There’s nothing,” said the engineer after 
studying the waves for a moment. 

“ Oh, yes there was ! ” the girl insisted em- 
phatically. “ Something showed up on the 
crest of a wave. It’s in the trough of the wave 
now. It’ll come up again.” 

“ Bit of wreckage from our yacht,” suggested 
Joe. 

“ Not much wreckage on ’er,” said the 


218 Curlie Carson Listens In 

skipper. ^^All washed off *er long before she 
sank.” 

“What could it be then?” The girl was 
fairly holding her breath. “ It couldn't be — ” 
“Don't get your hopes up too high,” cau- 
tioned Curlie. “ Of course miracles do happen, 
but not so very often.” 


CHAPTER XXIII 
THE MIRACLE 

They were all straining their eyes when at 
last the thing appeared once more on the crest 
of the wave. 

Wreckage! A mass of it! ” came from the 
skipper. 

‘‘ And — and there’s a hand ! ” exclaimed 
Curlie. 

‘‘ The paddles, boys ! The paddles ! Every 
’and of you, hup an’ at it,” shouted the skipper. 

The wildest excitement prevailed, yet out of 
it all there came quick and concerted action. 
Three paddles flashed as, straining every muscle, 
they strove to bring the clumsy raft nearer the 
wreck. With tears in her eyes, the girl begged 
and implored them to unwrap her and allow her 
to have a hand in the struggle. 

A minute passed. No longer chilled but 


219 


220 


Curlie Carson Listens In 


steaming from violent exertion, they strained 
eager eyes to catch another glimpse of the 
wreck. 

'' There — there it is ! ” exclaimed the girl, 
overcome with joy. “You’re gaining! You’re 
gaining 1 ” 

Five minutes passed. They gained half the 
distance. Eight minutes more; the hand on 
the wreckage rose again. They were getting 
nearer. 

Suddenly the girl uttered a piercing cry of 
joy: 

“ It is Vincent! It is! It is! ” 

And she was right. A moment later, as they 
dragged the all but senseless form from the 
seaplane, they recognized him at once as the mil- 
lionaire’s son. 

He had drifted in the benumbing water so 
long that had they been delayed for another 
hour they would have found nothing more than 
a corpse awaiting them. 

As Curlie tore Vincent’s sodden outer gar- 
ments from him he saw the girl carefully 


The Miracle 


221 


unrolling the blankets and oiled covering from 
about her. He did not protest. To him the 
thought of seeing this girl half drowned and 
chilled through by the spray which even now 
at times dashed over the raft, was heart- 
breaking, but he knew it was necessary if the 
life of her brother was to be saved. 

Brave girl ! he murmured as he wrapped 
Vincent in the coverings and passed him on to 
the skipper. 

^‘And now,” he said, “the time has come to 
think of other things. I believe the waves have 
sufficiently subsided to enable us to dare it.” 

He fumbled once more at the raft, at last to ^ 
bring up a long, post-shaped affair. 

“ More rations,” murmured Joe, swallowing 
his last bite of hardtack ; “ a regular commis- 
sary. But why get them out at this time? ” 

“ You wait,” smiled Cur lie. 

He was standing up. After telling Joe to 
steady him, he began tearing away at the upper 
end of the mysterious package. In a moment, 
he took out some limp, rubber affairs. 


222 Curlie Carson Listens In 

Toy balloons/’ jeered Joe. 

Something like that,” Curlie smiled. 

He next brought out a small brass retort 
and a tiny spirit lamp. 

Lucky our matches are dry,” he murmured, 
after unwrapping some oiled cloth and light- 
ing the spirit lamp with one of the matches 
inclosed. 

After firmly tying the end of a toy balloon 
over the mouth of the retort he held the spirit 
lamp beneath the bowl of the retort. At once 
the balloon began to expand. 

Chemicals already in the retort,” he ex- 
plained. 

When the balloon was sufficiently inflated, 
he quickly tied it at the mouth, then began in- 
flating another. 

The gas is very buoyant,” he explained. 

Hold that,” he said as he passed the string 
to the engineer. 

‘‘There’s enough,” he said quietly when the 
third had been filled. 

He next drew forth some shiny fine copper 


The Miracle 


223 


wire coiled about some round, insulated bars. 

When he had fastened the balloons to one end 
of the bars, he attached a strong cord to the 
balloons, then allowed them to rise, at the same 
time paying out the strands of copper wire. 

Not very heavy wire for an aerial,’^ he re- 
marked, but heavy enough. We’ll have a 
perpendicular aerial, which is better than hori- 
zontal, and it’ll hang pretty high. All that’s in 
our favor.” 

When the balloons had risen to a height 
which allowed the aerial, to which was attached 
a heavier insulated wire, to float free, he gave 
the cord to the engineer and began busying him- 
self at putting together what appeared to be a 
small windmill with curved, brass fans. 

‘‘A windmill,” he explained, ‘‘ is the surest 
method of obtaining a little power. Always a 
little breeze floating round. Enough to turn 
a wheel. This one is connected direct with a 
small generator. Gives power enough for a 
radiophone. Might use batteries but they might 
go dead on you. Windmill and generator is 


224 Curlie Carson Listens In 

as good after ten years as ten days. 

There you are/' he heaved a sigh of relief, 
as he struck the transmitter which he had taken 
from his apparently inexhaustible ‘‘ bag of 
tricks." 

Unless I miss my guess, we have a perfectly 
good radiophone outfit of fair power. All the 
rest of it is stowed down there in the bottom. 
We should be heard distinctly at from a hun- 
dred to five hundred miles. In the future," he 
smiled, every lifeboat and raft will be equipped 
with one of these handy little radiophone out- 
fits, which are really not very expensive." 

Then, with all eyes fixed upon him, he began 
to converse with the unseen and unknown, who, 
sailing somewhere on that vast sweep of water, 
were, they hoped, to become their rescuers. 

In perfectly natural tones he spoke of their 
catastrophe and their present predicament. He 
gave th^ir approximate location and the names 
of their party. This after an interval of two 
minutes, he repeated. 

Then, suddenly his lips parted in a smile. The 


The Miracle 225 

others watched him with strained attention. 
After a minute had elapsed, he said with ap- 
parent satisfaction: 

‘‘We'll await your arrival with unmixed 
pleasure. 

“ The Steamship Torrence,” he explained, 
“ in crossing the Atlantic was driven two hun- 
dred miles off her course. She is now only 
about seventy-five miles from us. Being a fast 
boat, she should reach us in three or four 
hours. 

“And now,” he said with a smile,” since we 
have no checkerboard on deck and are entirely 
deprived of musical instruments of any kind, 
perhaps you would like to hear me tell why I 
was sure the mysterious island which has caused 
us so much grief, did not exist.” 

“ By the way,” he said turning to Vincent, 
“ do you chance to have the original of that old 
map with you?” 

The boy pointed to his aviator’s sodden leather 
coat. Although he had gained much strength 
from the warm blankets, he had found himself 


226 Curlie Carson Listens In 

unable to speak of the tragedy which had be- 
fallen his companion on the Stormy Petrel. 
Now as he saw Curlie draw the water-soaked 
map from the pocket of his coat, a look of 
horror overspread his face and he muttered 
hoarsely: 

‘‘Throw it into the sea. It brings nothing 
but bad luck.’’ 

“No, no,” said Curlie, “we won’t do that.” 

“ Then you must keep it,” the other boy 
exclaimed. “ I don’t want ever to see it again. 
Alfred made me a present of it just before we 
hopped off.” 

“All right,” said Curlie, “but you are part- 
ing with a thing of some value.” 

“Value!” exclaimed Vincent. Then he sat 
staring at Curlie in silence as much as to say: 
“You too must have been bitten by the gold- 
bug.” But that Curlie had not been bitten by 
that dangerous and poisonous insect will be 
proved, I think, by the pages which follow. 


CHAPTER XXIV 
THE STORY OF THE MAP 

‘‘ You see/’ said Curlie, tapping the soggy bit 
of vellum which he held in his hand, the 
trouble with this map is, not that it is not 
genuine, but that it’s too old. This map,” he 
paused for emphasis, this map was made in 
fourteen hundred and forty-six.” 

Gladys Ardmore gasped. Her brother stared 
in astonishment. 

It’s a fact ! ” declared Curlie emphatically. 

“You see,” he went on, “the day I was in 
the library with Miss Gladys I saw an exact 
reproduction of this map in a large volume. 
At the same time I read a description of it and 
a brief account of its history. It seems it was 
lost sight of about a century ago. There were 
copies, but the original was gone. 

“ I concluded at once that the map had some- 

227 


228 Curlie Carson Listens In 

how come into the hands of Alfred Brightwood. 
Since I was convinced that this was the truth, 
and since I had read the writing about the gold 
discovered on the mysterious island charted 
there, I decided that it would be wise to find 
out whether or not it were possible that this 
strange story might be true. I found my an- 
swer in a bound volume of Scottish Geographic 
Magazines in a series of articles entitled, The 
So-Called Mythical Islands of the Atlantic.” 

It seems that there is fairly good proof 
that a number of vessels landed on the North 
American continent before Columbus did. 
Driven out of their course or lured on by hopes 
of gold and adventure, these ships from time 
to time discovered and rediscovered lands to 
the west of Ireland. They thought of the land 
as islands and gave them names. The island 
of Brazil was one of them. If you were to 
consult this map I have here you would find 
the island of Brazil indicated by a circle which 
is nearly as large as Ireland, yet if you were to 
cruise all over the waters in the vicinity of this 


The Story of the Map 229 

supposed island you would find only the restless 
old ocean. 

“What’s the answer then?” he smiled. 
“Just this: These ancient sea rovers didn’t have 
any accurate way of telling where they were at 
a given time on the sea, so they had to guess 
at it. Carried on by winds and currents, they 
often traveled much farther than they thought. 
They landed on the continent of North America 
and thought it an island. When they came back 
to Europe they tried to locate the land they had 
discovered on a map, and missed it by only a 
thousand miles or so. 

“Our ancient friend who wrote of his ex- 
periences on the back of this map had doubtless 
been carried to some point in Central or South 
America, for there was, even in those days, 
plenty of gold to be found in those regions.” 

“ So you see,” he turned to Vincent with a 
smile, “you went five hundred miles out to 
sea for the purpose of rediscovering America. 
Not much chance of success. Anyway that’s 
what I thought, and that is why I dashed off 


230 Curlie Carson Listens In 

on a wild race in the Kittlewake, And that’s 
why we’re here.” 

Silence followed the ending of Curlie’s nar- 
rative. There seemed to be nothing more to 
say. 

So they sat there staring at the sea for a 
long time. 

The silence was at last broken by the skipper’s 
announcement : 

Smoke on the larboard bow.” 

It was true. Their relief was at hand. 

Almost immediately afterward Curlie re- 
ceived a second reassuring message from the 
captain of the liner. A short time after that 
he had the pleasure of escorting the dripping 
daughter of a millionaire up the gangway. 

The next day as they were moving in to- 
ward the dock, Vincent Ardmore approached 
Curlie. 

My sister,” there was a strange smile on 
his lips, ^‘says you set out on this trip for the 
purpose of having me arrested?” 

I did.” 


The Story of the Map 231 

Well — ” the other boy choked up and 
could not continue. 

‘‘ The law, punishment, prisons and all that, 
as I understand it,’’ said Curlie thoughtfully, 
‘^have but one purpose: to teach people what 
other folks’ rights are arid to encourage them 
in respecting them. It’s my business to see that 
there is fair play in the air.” 

He paused and looked away at the sea. When 
he resumed there was a suspicious huskiness in 
his voice. ‘‘ Seems to me that as far as you 
are concerned, nature has punished you about 
enough. You ought to know by this time what 
interfering with the radio wave lengths belong- 
ing to sea traffic might mean to shipwrecked 
men ; and — well — Oh, what’s the use ! ” he 
broke off abruptly. I’m a chicken-hearted 
fool. You’re out on parole and must report to 
your sister every week. She’s — she’s what I’d 
call a brick ! ” 

Turning hastily he walked away. 

Almost before he knew it, he all but ran 
over Gladys Ardmore, coming to meet him. 


232 Curlie Carson Listens In 

Oh, Mister — Mister — ” she hesitated. 
‘‘Just plain Curlie,’’ he smiled. 

“You — you’re coming to see me when you 
get home? Won’t you? ” 

Curlie thought a moment, then of a sudden 
the spacious walls of the Ardmore mansion 
flashed into his mind. To go there as an 
officer of the law was one thing; to go as a 
guest was quite another. 

“ Why — why — ” he drew back in confusion 
— “ you’ll have to excuse me but — but — ” 

“ Oh ! I know ! ” she exclaimed. “ It’s the 
house and everything. Tell you what,” she 
seized him by the arm ; “ there’s a little old- 
fashioned farmhouse down in one corner of 
our estate. It was there when we bought it 
and has been kept just the same ever since. 
Even the furniture, red plush chairs, kitchen 
stove and everything, are there. We’ll go down 
there and have a regular frolic sometime, pop- 
corn, molasses candy, checkers and everything. 
We’ve a wonderful cook who once lived on a 
farm. We’ll take her along as a chaperon. 


The Story of the Map 233 

Now will you come? Will you?’’ she urged 
eagerly. 

‘‘ Why — why — ” 

‘‘ If you don’t,” she held up a warning finger, 
I’ll come up and visit you in that secret wire- 
less room of yours just as I once said I would.” 

“ In that case,” said Curlie, ‘‘ I suppose I’ll 
have to surrender. And,” he added happily, 
here we are, back to dear old North America, 
without any gold but with a lot to be thankful 
for.” 

The boat was bumping against the dock. 
Giving his arm a squeeze the girl dashed away. 


CHAPTER XXV 

OFF ON ANOTHER WILD CHASE 

A few nights later Curlie was back in the 
secret tower room. He was busy as ever 
running down trouble. 

Joe Marion, entering the room noiselessly, 
dropped a letter into his hand. The letter bore 
the insignia of the Ardmore family in one 
corner. 

‘‘From Gladys Ardmore!’’ he told himself. 

But he was mistaken. It was a typewritten 
letter signed in a bold business hand. It ran: 

“ It is with great pleasure that I 
inclose a check for the sum of the re- 
ward offered for the safe return of my 
son. 

“ (Signed) J. Anson Ardmore.” 

Curlie looked at the check, then uttered a 
low whistle. 


234 


Off on Another Wild Chase 235 

Pay to the order of C. Carson, $10,000.00,’’ 
he whispered. Then out loud: 

“ Joe, what would a fellow do with ten thou- 
sand dollars?” 

Search me,” Joe grinned back. You got 
the fever or something?” he asked a second 
later. 

Curlie showed him the check. 

Why,” said Joe, you might buy a car.” 

Not much. The Humming Bird’s quite 
good enough.” 

‘‘Tell you what,” he said after a moment's 
thought, “ just get that cashed for me, will you? 
Then find out where our old skipper and the 
engineer live and send them a thousand apiece. 
After that pocket a thousand for yourself. 
Then — then — Oh, well, hire me a safety de- 
posit box and buy me a lot of Liberty bonds. 
Might want ’em some day. 

“And, say, that reminds me,” he pointed to 
a square of vellum which hung on a stretcher 
in the corner. “Take that over to the big 
library on the North Side and tell ’em it’s a 


236 Curlie Carson Listens In 

present from us. It’s that map Vincent Ard- 
more gave me. It’s worth a thousand dollars, 
but such maps are not safe outside a library. 
Tell ’em to put it on ice,” he laughed. 

Scarcely had Joe departed than a keen-eyed, 
gray-haired man entered the tower room. He 
was Colonel Edward Marshall, Curlie’s superior. 

“ Curlie,” he wrinkled his brow, as he took 
a seat, ‘‘ there’s somebody raising hob with the 
radio service in Alaska.” 

Curlie nodded his head. I thought there 
might be. Sends on 1200, doesn’t he? ” He was 
thinking of the hotel mystery and of the strange 
girl who had whispered to him so often out of 
the night. 

‘‘Yes, how did you know so much?” 

“ Part of my job.” 

“ But you’ve been away.” 

“Radiophone whispers travel far.” 

“ Well,” said the colonel, settling down to 
business, “Alaska’s in a bad way. This fellow 
doesn’t confine himself to 1200 up there. He 
uses all sorts of wave lengths; seems to take 


237 


Off on Another Wild Chase 

pleasure in mussing up important government 
communications and even more in breaking in 
on Munson/’ 

Munson, the Arctic explorer.” 

“ Yes. He’s making a try for the Pole. 
Much depends upon his keeping in touch with 
the outside world and this crank or crook seems 
determined that he shall not.” 

‘^Why don’t they catch him?” 

Well, you see,” he wrinkled his brow again, 
‘‘ the boys up there are rather new at it. Don’t 
understand the radio compass very well. The 
fellow moves about and all that, so it’s difficult. 

‘‘ I thought,” he said slowly after a moment, 
'' that you might like to tackle the case.” 

‘‘Would I?” exclaimed Curlie, jumping to 
his feet. “Try me! Can I take Joe along?” 

“As you like. Better get off pretty promptly; 
say day after to-morrow.” 

“ Never fear. We’ll be off on time.” 

The colonel bowed and left the room. 

“Alaska ! Alaska ! ” Curlie murmured after 
a time, “Alaska and the Yukon trail, for of 


238 Curlie Carson Listens In 

course it will be that. It’s too late for the 
boats. And that reminds me, I made a promise 
to Gladys Ardmore. Only one night left.” 

A short time after that he put in an out-of- 
town telephone call. It was a girlish voice that 
answered. 

Late the next night Curlie made his way 
home along the well-remembered Forest Pre- 
serve road. He was riding in the Humming 
Bird. He had been to Gladys Ardmore’s party 
for two and a chaperon down in the little farm- 
house. The party had been a grand success 
and he was carrying away pleasant memories 
which would serve him well on the long, long 
Yukon trail and the weary and eventful miles 
which lay beyond its further terminal. 

If you wish to learn of Curlie’s adventures 
up there and of the secret of the whisperer, you 
must read the next volume, entitled ‘'On the 
Yukon Trail.” 


THE END. 


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